China, US officials Resume Trade Talks in Washington
US and Chinese mid-level officials are set to resume contentious trade talks on Wednesday amid low expectations.
The discussions could set a framework for further negotiations as each country prepares to hit the other with new tariffs on Thursday in a deepening dispute over China’s economic policies.
But analysts and business leaders warn that they don’t expect anything concrete to come from the negotiations, which could simply set the stage for more discussions before a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year. The two are expected to meet at a multilateral summit in Argentina in November.
Even Trump himself said this week he doesn’t expect much progress from the talks. Resolving the trade dispute will “take time because China’s done too well for too long, and they’ve become spoiled,” he said in an interview with Reuters. “They dealt with people that, frankly, didn’t know what they were doing, to allow us to get into this position.”
If anything, analysts said, this week’s talks may simply be helpful in identifying areas where further discussions could occur.
“I think the chances of substantial progress around negotiated taxes (during these talks) is quite small,” said Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington.
“More likely than not, this is an exercise where they will identify areas where there has always been room for potential compromise,” he said.
Nor are the current talks expected to impact the new tariffs that are scheduled to take effect Thursday. The tariffs are part of $50 billion in duties the Trump administration announced earlier this summer.
The first wave took effect in July and affected $34 billion in Chinese imports, including farm equipment, motor vehicles, medical equipment and products made of aluminum and steel. The second round includes a 25 percent tariff that kicks in Thursday and will impact 279 product lines including electronics, plastics and railway freight cars.
“We would have to have some extremely dramatic, unforeseen concessions by the Chinese for Thursday’s tariffs to not take effect,” Kennedy said.
The two governments have had no formal trade discussions since Trump imposed the initial round of tariffs amid complaints that China engages in unfair trade practices, including the theft of U.S. technology and intellectual property.
China retaliated by slapping an extra 25 percent duty on 545 products from the United States including soybeans, electric cars, orange juice, whiskey, salmon and cigars.

In a surprise announcement, China signaled last week that it would return to the table this week to discuss the economy and trade issues. The Chinese delegation will be led by Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen. Heading the talks for the U.S. will be David Malpass, the undersecretary of Treasury for international affairs.
China’s willingness to resume talks should not be viewed as a sign that it is beginning to feel the pain of the U.S.-imposed tariffs, analysts said.
“We have seen no evidence that the tariffs are impacting China,” said Erin Ennis, senior vice president of the U.S. China Business Council, a Washington-based nonprofit group.
But just $34 billion of the tariffs have taken effect so far, which is a fraction of China’s overall trade with the U.S., Ennis said.