More information is now revealed on why US-China trade tensions suddenly heightened.US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer complained China reneges on its commitment during that trade negotiations as “we felt we were on track to get somewhere”. For now, significant issues remain unresolved in trade negotiations. He specifically criticized that “over the course of last week we have seen an erosion of commitments by China” And, “that in our view is unacceptable.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also noted that in the new draft of the agreement sent over from China during the weekend, China pulled back on language in the text on a number of issues. Such changes had the “potential to change the deal very dramatically”. With the changes, China wanted to reopen areas that had already be negotiated. Mnuchin said “we are not willing to go back on documents that have been negotiated in the past”.
The drastic change in China’s commitment infuriated Trump, who announced to push US-China trade war to full blown level with a tweet on Sunday. He planned to raise tariffs on USD 200B of Chinese goods to 25% from 10%. Also, there will be 25% tariffs on currently “untaxed” USD 325B of Chinese goods shortly.
