Catching Up With Trump & His Trade Talks, Deals & Tariffs

No More U.S-China Deal?

Last year, it was believed that a deal would happen before the U.S presidential elections in 2020. But then, the coronavirus happened and now, the U.S and China are at loggerheads again.

Trump is so frustrated with China that he has said that he had postponed talks with them. He was quoted by Reuters, saying, “I postponed talks with China. You know why? I don’t want to deal with them now,” and added, “What China did to the world was not even thinkable. They could have stopped (the virus).” When asked whether he would pull out of the trade deal with China, he said, as quoted by Reuters, “We’ll see what happens.”

After his comment, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told on Tuesday that no new high-level trade talks have been scheduled between the United States and China. However, the U.S Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will continue to have talks with his Chinese counterparts involving purchases and fulfilling their agreements.

The Phase 1 deal

Even though the current situation has raised doubts over a full-blown U.S-China trade deal, we can take comfort in the fact that there is a phase 1 deal in place.

As per the deal, China has agreed to increase purchases of American products and services by at least $200 billion over the next two years. The U.S will reduce by half the tariff rate it levied on September 1 on a $120 billion list of Chinese goods to 7.5%.

The deal includes stronger Chinese legal protections for patents, trademarks, copyrights, which include enhanced criminal and civil procedures to fight online infringement, pirate and counterfeit goods. As part of the deal, China has made “enforceable commitments to refrain from competitive devaluation” and agreed to publish relevant data on exchange rates and external balances.

Tariffs For Canada. Again?

It looks like Trump might not stop with China as he has resumed his favourite activity once again — The Imposition of Tariffs. Earlier this month, Trump said that he has reimposed some tariffs on Canadian aluminium and signed an executive order that
requires the U.S government to buy “essential” drugs from American companies.

While explaining the reason behind this move, Trump was quoted by CNBC saying, “The aluminum business was being decimated by Canada,” …“Very unfair to our jobs and our great aluminum workers.”

It is not all gloomy and sad because the U.S has made a deal with one country and that country is India!

On The Bright Side, A Deal With India

Even though the U.S’ relationship with other countries might have been strained, India, on the other hand, is definitely moving forward with its trade deal.

Sources told ThePrint that a mini trade deal has been struck between Washington and India and this time, the U.S wants India to buy dairy and agriculture products worth $6 billion. Sources have added that Lighthizer has now demanded that if India wants the U.S to restore the trade benefits under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme, it has to give “business equivalent of that amount” to the U.S.

With the coronavirus affecting the global economy on a deeper level, it will be beneficial for many countries if they could work out a deal that will help global trade, result in jobs and offer a push to the economies of individual countries as well. Because these trade wars have dragged on long enough and we hope our leaders don’t carry it on to the next year.

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