US-China Trade Talks Get Stuck Again

The U.S. and China have hit one more wall in finalizing “phase one” of their trade deal as disagreements emerge on a number of issues during ongoing talks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

What Happened

President Donald Trump wants China to commit to purchasing $50 billion worth of farm products, including soybean and pork from the U.S., people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. 

China, while agreeing to import the farm products, is not willing to formally sign on a specific number, the publication said.

Yet, this is only one of the many ongoing issues in the trade deal. The world’s two largest countries, in terms of overall GDP, are also struggling to come to terms with relaxing tariffs.

United States is insisting on the Beijing government to toughen its intellectual property laws up and reduce Forced Technology Transfer restrictions on the U.S. companies that want to do business in the country, in exchange for relaxing tariffs on Chinese imports, the Wall Street Journal reported. China is in no mood to agree to this proposition, either.

Why It Matters

The impact of the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China is going beyond the two countries. Japan’s economy grew its slowest in the third quarter compared to the rest of the year due to the impact of the trade war, according to Reuters.

Starting October, the two countries have made progress in the trade talks. Earlier this month, Beijing said that they agreed to relax some of the tariffs, but President Trump snubbed the claim, according to the South China Morning Post.

Trump announced on Tuesday that the U.S. could increase the tariffs if the trade talks fail.