US, China envoys hold last talks before March 1 deadline
Posted February 12, 2019 10:31 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BEIJING — U.S. and Chinese negotiators meet this week for their final trade talks before President Donald Trump decides whether to go ahead with a March 2 tariff hike on $200 billion of imports from China.
Businesspeople and economists say two days of talks starting Thursday are too little time to resolve a tariff war over Beijing’s technology ambitions that threatens to drag on weakening global economic growth. Instead, China’s goal is to show they are making enough progress to persuade Trump to extend his deadline.
There are few signs of progress on their thorniest issue: Washington’s demand that Beijing scale back plans for government-led creation of champions in robotics and other technology.
China’s trading partners say those violate its market-opening obligations. Some American officials worry they might erode U.S. industrial leadership.
The Associated Press
