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Jul. 29, 2019 Agri-Pulse reports: U.S. Trade Representative Bob Lighthizer is going to have a busy week. He's expected to arrive today in Shanghai together with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to negotiate with China for two days before hopping on a flight back to Washington in time to take part in trade talks with Japan. A government official tells Agri-Pulse that Lighthizer will be back in time to meet with Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who is leading the country's delegation to Washington. On the China front: The meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Shanghai will be the first face-to-face negotiations since Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met in June. The fact that China invited Lighthizer and Mnuchin for the talks has been widely viewed as a positive development, but Trump sought Friday to lower expectations on a quick resolution to the complex dispute that is punishing virtually all of the U.S. ag sector. He said it might take more than a year for a resolution if the Chinese wait to see if he is re-elected in 2020. On the Japan front: While the State Department calls Japan a "steadfast ally" and key to U.S. efforts to denuclearize North Korea, the Trump administration continues to threaten the country with auto tariffs unless a lucrative free trade agreement is struck and Japanese tariffs are slashed. The U.S. announced in May that it was postponing any potential auto tariffs, but only for about six months while trade talks progress. U.S. government officials tell Agri-Pulse that negotiators are still hoping to get Japan to agree to a quick, mini, ag-centric deal to lift Japanese tariffs on U.S. commodities like wheat, beef, pork and dairy, as well as increase quotas for rice. Trump attacks China's WTO status Trump opened up a new front of attack on China Friday, accusing the country of using the preferential status of a "developing country" to gain unfair advantages in the World Trade Organization. China and other countries, the White House said in a memorandum, "claim entitlement to longer timeframes for the imposition of safeguards, generous transition periods, softer tariff cuts, procedural advantages for WTO disputes, and the ability to avail themselves of certain export subsidies -- all at the expense of other WTO Members." "For far too long, wealthy countries have abused the WTO by exempting themselves from its rules through the use of special and differential treatment," Lighthizer said in a statement. "This unfairness disadvantages Americans who play by the rules, undermines negotiations at the WTO, and creates an unlevel playing field." Tweet |
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