US, China Trade War: Beijing Pressures Trump To Remove Tariffs Before Signing Deal

China has stepped up pressure on U.S. President Donald Trump to remove China tariffs imposed in September under the trade war before it signs the phase one of the trade deal, according to reports.

These reports have appeared as President of China Xi Jinping is expected to visit the United States to sign the phase one trade deal.

According to the latest news, China wanted President Trump to remove China tariffs taking effect in mid-December and wanted retrospective action by removing Trump tariffs imposed in September.

This was reported by the Politico on Monday, citing people familiar with the internal discussions.

As part of the China trade war, the U.S. imposed a 15 percent tariff on Chinese imports over $112 billion worth goods on Sept. 1. Despite the Chinese pressure the U.S. is yet to yield, per trade war news.

China news says Beijing is trying to link the removal of tariffs as a condition to buy $50 billion worth of U.S. farm products within two years, action on opening financial services markets and protection of intellectual property.

According to Trump news, the signing of phase one of the US-China trade war deal will be as scheduled without major amends and address 60 percent of the current trade dispute.

President Xi might be invited to sign the trade deal at Iowa, a major farm state in the U.S.

Hawaii and Alaska are also being considered possible locations for signing the deal.

“There is progress. First, I want to get the deal. And if we get the deal, the meeting place will come very easily. It'll be someplace in the U.S.,” Trump Twitter update said on Sunday.

The domain of phase 1 trade deal

Right now, the phase one deal seeks to eliminate a 15 percent tariff that would come from December on $160 billion worth of Chinese goods including laptops and smartphones.

Beijing wanted the 15 percent tariff out on roughly $112 billion worth of Chinese goods imposed on Sept. 1. But Trump agreed to suspend a planned increase to 30 percent effective from Oct. 15.

Trump may revive TPP to pressure China

Meanwhile, reports suggest even if a trade deal is signed, Trump might revive the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) mooted by his predecessor Barack Obama that Trump himself scrapped later.

The TPP was envisaged for 12 countries along the Pacific Rim, excluding China and had 40 percent of world gross domestic product under its belt.

The agenda of TPP was to economically isolate China and envisaged the elimination of 18,000 tariffs, benefits to large corporations on labor hiring, cushion on environmental regulations and intellectual property, and favorable terms for resolving investor-state disputes. There was a potential boost for the US agricultural and services sectors as well.

The Trump administration feels that normalizing trade war-issues through structural adjustments would take away the steering wheel from President Trump’s hand in terms of the containment strategy on China that relied on tariffs, investment controls, and export bans.

Critics of the TPP had been pointing to the loss to the manufacturing sector. But Trump is facing the pressure to balance the interests of America’s industrial workers with geopolitical requirements. That is where Trump might start seeing virtues in TPP.