Still, Holleyman said, some Chinese economic
reformers have said that what the Trump
administration wants — especially widening U.S.
companies’ access to China’s markets — could
benefit Beijing, too.
“Reformers recognize that allowing healthier
market access with global collaboration can also
be in the interest of China,” said Holleyman, who
formerly oversaw negotiations with China at the
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
That said, he acknowledged, “the hard-liners
don’t see that.”
For now, Holleyman said, “China’s been willing
to make offers in a whole bunch of areas.” For
example, Beijing appears willing to buy more
U.S. goods and thereby narrow America’s
gaping trade deficit with China — a perennial
complaint of Trump — which hit a record $381
billion last year.
Still, a Chinese government report in early June
asserted that any promises to buy more American
exports in a settlement had to be realistic.
Some observers hope for a repeat of December’s
surprise agreement by Trump and Xi in
Argentina to postpone plans for higher tariffs
while their negotiators continued to meet. That
cease-fire bought five months of talks. The result
was that the two sides appeared to be closing in
on a deal before the breakdown in negotiations
last month heightened tensions.
“The situation is now more serious,” said Tu
Xinquan, director of the Institute for WTO
Studies at the University of International
Business and Economics in Beijing. “If the
dialogue can arrest the trend of the escalation
of the trade war and restart the talks, it will be
a good result.”
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