For a week, US President Trump has been speculating on how a call with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will solve their trade issues. Harry Broadman, a former US trade representative, explains in Politico why Trump is wrong.
Politico:
Trump’s expectation that a call with Xi can reboot U.S.-China trade talks on those issues and render substantive results defies the diplomatic and policymaking protocols of China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party.
“Trump is a deal maker. Xi Jinping is not a deal maker — he’s a Party guy at the top of an administrative superstructure,” said Harry Broadman, a former assistant U.S. trade representative in the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. “I cannot imagine that Xi would get into specifics — at most they might agree on certain principles but that’s not likely to satisfy Trump.”
There’s also a risk that a call between the two leaders could backfire for Trump by undermining longer term trade negotiations with China.
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