12/10/2018

CHINA/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Unless U.S.-China trade talks wrap up successfully by March 1, new tariffs will be imposed, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Sunday, clarifying there is a ‘hard deadline’ after a week of seeming confusion among President Donald Trump and his advisers. Global markets are jittery about a collision between the world’s two largest economic powers over China’s huge trade surplus with the United States and U.S. claims that China is stealing intellectual property and technology…After a turbulent week in markets, investors ‘can be reassured that if there is a deal that can be made that will assure the protection of U.S. technology…and get additional market access…the president wants us to do it,’ Lighthizer said. ‘If not we will have tariffs.’ In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said both countries’ economic and trade teams were ‘intensifying contacts and consultations’, when asked if China was sending a trade negotiation delegation to the United States this week.”

Reuters Staff, “U.S. says March 1 ‘hard deadline’ for trade deal with China,” Reuters, December 10, 2018 8:44 am