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 By Ryan MCMORROW Beijing (AFP) Feb 15, 2019
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the United States had "productive" talks with China over their trade dispute after negotiations in Beijing ended Friday with no sign that any concrete progress had been made. Top officials from the world's two biggest economies had held two days of talks, hoping to at least create sufficient goodwill to stave off an escalation of their tariff war. In a tweet, Mnuchin said after the talks ended that he and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had "productive meetings with China's Vice Premier Liu He," Beijing's top economic official. The talks closed around mid-day on Friday and the delegations parted with nothing announced. Attention then shifted to a planned meeting later Friday between the US delegation and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with markets watching for signals that the world's two economic superpowers may look to maintain a truce on damaging reciprocal tariffs. The high-level meetings began Thursday after President Donald Trump suggested that if talks in Beijing went well he may extend his March 1 deadline for China to make significant concessions on trade before resuming the tariff onslaught. Trump's economic advisor Larry Kudlow had earlier said Xi's willingness to meet with the US officials was a "very good sign." Kudlow also said "the vibe is good," in characterising the talks, but said there was "no decision" yet on extending Trump's tariff truce. - Little progress - After Trump suggested he may put off plans to more than double tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports after March 1, Bloomberg News reported that a 60-day postponement was being considered to allow more time for negotiations. Multiple reports had indicated that little if any progress was made in the Chinese capital toward US demands, with the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg quoting anonymous sources as saying the two sides failed to narrow the gap on key issues. Washington accuses Beijing of a range of unfair trade practices including myriad barriers against foreign access to its market, subsidies that favour Chinese companies, rampant theft of intellectual property, and the requirement that foreign firms transfer proprietary technology to their partners in China as a condition of doing business. Mnuchin and Lighthizer returned to their hotel after the talks ended but did not speak to the media. Beijing and Washington have already imposed duties on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, which are weighing on their manufacturing sectors and have shaken global financial markets. Expectations for an accord have being growing as China faces pressure from slowing economic growth, and as the market turmoil rattles Trump and his economic advisors. But many China experts say Beijing's Communist Party rulers are unlikely to make significant changes to industrial policies that have abetted the country's economic rise without a long and tough fight. In December, Trump had postponed plans to sharply hike tariffs, setting the March 1 ultimatum for Chinese concessions. Trump has said that any eventual trade deal would need to be sealed personally between him and Xi in a summit meeting.
US-China trade talks: what's under debate US President Donald Trump said the talks were going "extremely well", while his advisors deep in the details warned there was still "much work" to do. Beijing and Washington have already imposed duties on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, which are weighing on their manufacturing sectors and have shaken global financial markets. Trump has said he may extend a March 1 deadline after which tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods are set to more than double. Here is a breakdown of the main sticking points: - IP theft & tech transfer - Washington contends Beijing has encouraged theft of American intellectual property while forcing US companies to turn over trade secrets for market access. Beijing has long denied the charges but is working to step up punishments for IP theft, fast tracking a new foreign investment law which explicitly bans forced technology transfer. It is also gradually increasing the scope of industries where foreign firms can operate without a Chinese joint venture partner. It is unclear if the moves will be enough to appease the Trump Administration. The FBI recently said it is investigating Chinese economic espionage across the US while the Justice Department is leading a name, shame and prosecute campaign against Chinese spying and theft. US prosecutors recently ensnared Chinese tech giant Huawei with charges of trade secret theft, including an alleged programme to reward technology theft from rivals. - Industrial policy - China's industrial policy has raised concerns -- especially a "Made in China 2025" initiative that aims to make the Asian giant into a global leader in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, through generous state support for domestic firms. Beijing and the Chinese state media have played down the policy this past year as it roused controversy, but for China the trade tensions have only reinforced the need to increase self-sufficiency in crucial technology like semiconductors. Indeed, a brief US ban on sales to state-backed telecom giant ZTE nearly killed the company last year. - State subsidies - In recent years China's state-owned companies have strengthened their domestic dominance -- flying in the face of Western demands for market reforms. Washington hopes China will lessen the role of the state in the economy and curtail generous subsidies for industries and companies. But economist Cui Fan of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing cautioned China may not give ground if the US wants to discuss state subsidies beyond the remit of the World Trade Organization agreement. "I am afraid it will be difficult to completely solve this month," he said. - Trade deficit - China's politically sensitive trade surplus with the US last year hit a record $323.3 billion as the tit-for-tat tariffs kept Chinese buyers away from American agricultural and energy commodities. Beijing has pledged to pick up purchases of US soybeans and other goods and dangled a massive buying spree over negotiations to nudge the White House towards a deal. The White House Friday emphasised discussions on purchases to reduce the "large and persistent bilateral trade deficit". But any buying spree would have to rely heavily on the Chinese state-owned firms which Washington is battling to sideline. - Deal in sight? - The two sides are working towards a Memorandum of Understanding to detail their commitments ahead of a potential meeting between Trump and Xi. The test will be if Trump can get on board with a deal to address the trade deficit that defers structural changes. Earlier this month he told the American public a deal "must include real structural change to end unfair trade practises", but Chinese analysts say that will take time. "We are a slow moving country. Some patience is needed," said Zhang, adding negotiating China's entry into the WTO took more than a decade. Then there is the question of how to enforce whatever is agreed on. Beijing has long been wary of outside oversight.
Hong Kong port slips from global top five for first time Hong Kong (AFP) Feb 14, 2019 Hong Kong's port, which once vied with rival Singapore for global dominance, has slipped out of the world's top five busiest shipping container terminals for the first time, new data has revealed. The bustling southern Chinese financial hub owes its very existence to its ideal location as a port, a cornerstone of the remarkable growth of a city's whose name means "Fragrant Harbour". It has been among the world's busiest for the last four decades and dominated in the 1990s and early 2000s as Chin ... read more
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