Trump’s Visit to China: More Business Deals Than Trade Pacts
- 7 years ago
Trump’s Visit to China: More Business Deals Than Trade Pacts
“From what I understand, there really hasn’t been much of
that for this visit,” said William Zarit, the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, a group that has worked closely with American trade negotiators for decades, “which makes us a bit concerned that there may not be much discussion on the structural issues.”
That has led to grumbling among business types.
Several financial firms were interested in attending the trip to discuss Chinese restrictions on bank ownership, but they decided to pull back when they learned
that the Trump administration was focused on making deals rather than pushing for structural reform, said an industry source who is familiar with the negotiations, who declined to be identified while discussing internal deliberations.
In a briefing Oct. 31, a senior administration official said improving trade competitiveness
in services would be one of the White House’s top priorities for the trip.
The administration has been preoccupied with rewriting the North American Free Trade Agreement and a United States trade deal with South Korea.
And with the administration also trying to push tax policy changes through Congress, two top economic officials are not even joining the trip,
but staying in Washington: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Gary D. Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council.
“From what I understand, there really hasn’t been much of
that for this visit,” said William Zarit, the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, a group that has worked closely with American trade negotiators for decades, “which makes us a bit concerned that there may not be much discussion on the structural issues.”
That has led to grumbling among business types.
Several financial firms were interested in attending the trip to discuss Chinese restrictions on bank ownership, but they decided to pull back when they learned
that the Trump administration was focused on making deals rather than pushing for structural reform, said an industry source who is familiar with the negotiations, who declined to be identified while discussing internal deliberations.
In a briefing Oct. 31, a senior administration official said improving trade competitiveness
in services would be one of the White House’s top priorities for the trip.
The administration has been preoccupied with rewriting the North American Free Trade Agreement and a United States trade deal with South Korea.
And with the administration also trying to push tax policy changes through Congress, two top economic officials are not even joining the trip,
but staying in Washington: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Gary D. Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council.