Crossed wires: Why the U.S. and China are struggling to reach a trade deal
2018-10-25 10:30:43 source：The Washington Post
October 24, 2018
In a midtown Manhattan conference room, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi vented to a small group of prominent American business executives about how China had been betrayed, again and again, by a fickle United States.
Chinese leaders believed they had a trade agreement last year with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, only to see President Trump veto it. In May, they reached a second deal with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, but Trump again turned thumbs down — this time via Twitter. Then in September, as China prepared to dispatch a top official to discuss possible concessions, the president preempted the trip with new tariffs.
“They do not seem to want to talk,” Wang said at the private gathering in late September, according to one attendee. “We don’t know if they’re uncoordinated, or if they’re negotiating in bad faith.”
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