The United States and China are resuming trade talks, raising hopes for a way out of an intensifying dispute between the world's two largest economies.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters Thursday that the U.S. team will be led by David Malpass, U.S. Treasury under secretary for international affairs. Earlier, China said it would send a delegation led by a deputy commerce minister.
This meeting would be the first between senior U.S. and Chinese officials since June 3 talks in Beijing ended with no settlement. The United States has already imposed taxes on $34 billion in Chinese goods, drawing Chinese retaliation. President Donald Trump is readying tariffs on $216 billion more, and Beijing has vowed to counterpunch with its own trade sanctions.
White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow speaks to the media after finishing interviews on the North Lawn of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018, in Washington. (AP PhotoAndrew Harnik)
"We haven't really had a sit-down with them in quite some time at any level. So who knows? But it's got to be a good thing," said Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council.
Investors expressed relief at the prospect of a cease-fire in a trade standoff that has been escalating for months. The Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 365 points in late morning trading.
"It's better to be talking than not talking, particularly in a dispute which shows no signs of let up and where mutual trust is so low," said Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator who is a vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow arrives to speak to the media after finishing television interviews on the North Lawn of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018, in Washington. (AP PhotoAndrew Harnik)
But she cautioned: "We should not expect any breakthroughs at this meeting and keep expectations low. At best, the two sides could agree on future engagement at a more senior level and start exploring possible off ramps from this escalating dispute. "
The United States and China are battling over China's aggressive campaign to challenge American technological dominance. The U.S. charges that China uses predatory tactics ranging from outright cybertheft to forcing foreign companies to hand over technology as the price of admission to the Chinese market.
Efforts to resolve the dispute have bogged down. In May, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had declared the trade war "on hold" after China agreed to reduce the U.S. trade deficit by buying more American energy and farm products. But Trump reversed course and announced that the U.S. would go ahead with tariffs on Chinese goods, and Beijing withdrew its offer to step up purchases of American products.
White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow speaks to the media after finishing interviews on the North Lawn of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018, in Washington. (AP PhotoAndrew Harnik)
The talks scheduled for later this month sound "like a lower-level version of what we had in May. They struck a deal and one week later the president rejected it," said Philip Levy, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global affairs and a White House trade adviser in the administration of President George W. Bush. "What we've seen in China negotiations is that the president has repeatedly failed to trust his own people."
The U.S. trade deficit with China in goods and services — the gap between what the U.S. sells the Chinese and what it buys from them — came to a record $336 billion last year. Trump blames unfair Chinese trade practices for the vast trade gap.
"We're talking about two fundamentally different approaches to commerce," said trade lawyer Robert Holleyman, a partner at Crowell & Moring law firm and an Obama administration U.S. trade official involved in negotiations with China. "China has a state-planned and state-driven, heavily subsidized and substantially closed economy. The U.S. is in favor of a more open market economy... Can those differences be bridged? Or are they so fundamental that the tariffs and retaliatory tariffs become the norm."
TOKYO (AP) — The American envoy to the United Nations called Friday for countries armed with atomic weapons to pursue nuclear disarmament as she visited the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, Japan.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who became the first U.S. cabinet member to visit Nagasaki, stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy amid a growing nuclear threat in the region.
“We must continue to work together to create an environment for nuclear disarmament. We must continue to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in every corner of the world,” she said after a tour of the atomic bomb museum.
“For those of us who already have those weapons, we must pursue arms control. We can and must work to ensure that Nagasaki is the last place to ever experience the horror of nuclear weapons,” she added, standing in front of colorful hanging origami cranes, a symbol of peace.
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.
Nagasaki Gov. Kengo Oishi said in a statement that he believed Thomas-Greenfield's visit and her first-person experience at the museum “will be a strong message in promoting momentum of nuclear disarmament for the international society at a time the world faces a severe environment surrounding atomic weapons.”
Oishi said he conveyed to the ambassador the increasingly important role of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in emphasizing the need of nuclear disarmament.
Thomas-Greenfield's visit to Japan comes on the heels of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to the United States last week and is aimed at deepening Washington's trilateral ties with Tokyo and Seoul. During her visit to South Korea earlier this week, she held talks with South Korean officials, met with defectors from North Korea and visited the demilitarized zone.
The ambassador said the United States is looking into setting up a new mechanism for monitoring North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Russia and China have thwarted U.S.-led efforts to step up U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile testing since 2022, underscoring a deepening divide between permanent Security Council members over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
She said it would be “optimal” to launch the new system next month, though it is uncertain if that is possible.
The U.N. Security Council established a committee to monitor sanctions, and the mandate for its panel of experts to investigate violations had been renewed for 14 years until last month, when Russia vetoed another renewal.
In its most recent report, the panel of experts said it is investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023 valued at approximately $3 billion, with the money reportedly being used to help fund its weapons development.
The United States, Japan and South Korea have been deepening security ties amid growing tension in the region from North Korea and China.
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, right, speaks to Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, second right, as they wait for a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, right, walk to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, talk prior to a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, prepare to talk during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
