The trade war between the U.S. and China has escalated. The Trump Administration is imposing another 10-percent tariff on $300 billion of Chinese goods starting September 1, with China retaliating. The President now says talks will continue with a meeting in September, but he is not going to make a deal with China at this time. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad says he’s not sure how long the trade war will drag out.
China has already retaliated starting with the devaluation of their currency in relation to the U.S. dollar. They also criticized the President for calling them currency manipulators, but Branstad says that is exactly what they were doing.
China has also asked state owned companies to halt all purchases of U.S. agricultural goods. Branstad says he’s not sure if that is just a threat or not.
And Branstad doesn’t know if the Chinese are really stalling until after the 2020 elections or not.
Branstad says it will take persistence and patience for the two countries to strike a deal. However, the biggest issues haven’t changed including intellectual property and technology transfer.
