U.S. ‘losing patience’ with China on trade commitments

U.S. officials reiterated their stance that China has resisted urgings to live up to terms of the Phase 1 trade deal in remarks to Politico. The White House is reportedly “losing patience” with China and noted the U.S. is not interested “in talks for the sake of talking; we seek concrete action.” The officials also noted they “inherited” the deal from the Trump administration and cited “limitations” in the deal. U.S. trade officials made similar comments to Reuters earlier this week. The China focus will be heightened today with the release of International Trade in Goods and Services data that is expected to show a record trade deficit for the U.S. and indicate how far China has fallen behind on its purchase commitments under Phase 1 relative to energy, agricultural and manufactured goods and services. Much of the attention has been on the purchase commitments made by China but there are also other components that have not yet been implemented, including seven commitments on ag trade details relative to biotech crops and more. The U.S. officials also indicated that framework of the deal provided little leverage to enforce the purchase commitments. China’s foreign ministry said the two sides needed to work together to resolve issues.

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