After praising a weekend Trade deal with China earlier in the week, President Trump has now distanced himself from the "framework" between the two countries which has been widely panned by China hawks. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has taken heavy criticism over a tarriff "truce" with Beijing, as well as an agreement which would reverse a recent ban on companies selling to Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp.
“Our Trade Deal with China is moving along nicely, but in the end we will probably have to use a different structure in that this will be too hard to get done and to verify results after completion,” Trump said in a Wednesday tweet.
Our Trade Deal with China is moving along nicely, but in the end we will probably have to use a different structure in that this will be too hard to get done and to verify results after completion.
Trump's about-face may not bode well for Mnuchin's tenure in the administration.
After boasting of the deal’s benefits for farmers in tweets on Monday, Trump first indicated on Tuesday he was having second thoughts as some of his loyalists publicly criticized the agreement. Asked if he was pleased with the direction of his administration’s negotiations with China, Trump told reporters “no, not really.” He later added, “they’re a start.” -Bloomberg
Following last weekend's agreement, the Trump administration said it would back down from prior threats of new tariffs against China after the two nations agreed to “substantially” downsize the U.S. merchandise trade deficit, which hit a record $375 billion last year. In response, Beijing promised to “significantly” increase US purchases going forward - albeit with no dollar figure attached. The White House, however, gave assurances that China would cave to its demand for a $200 billion annual trade-gap reduction.
On Tuesday, China announced that it would slash its auto tariff, while the administration said it had agreed on the "broad outline" of a deal that would save imperiled Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp., according to the Wall Street Journal
The US has promised to remove a ban on US companies selling components to ZTE - imposed last month, purportedly because ZTE failed to fire certain employees and cut bonuses according to the terms of a settlement after it was caught selling US goods to Iran.
While Mnuchin insisted Tuesday morning that there was no "quid pro quo" involved in the ZTE aspect of the negotiations, President Trump began to distance from the talks - stating on Wednesday that the US and China have yet to reach a deal on trade, and adding that he is "not pleased" with how the talks are progressing. While the talks with China were "a start", Trump said he's not yet satisfied.
Trump’s about-face on ZTE adds to...