Before markets get too overconfident about the prospects for a sweeping US-China trade deal, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross wants investors to know that – despite the purported concessions being made (or at least considered) by the Chinese this week – China will need to meet more of the US’s 142 trade-deal demands if it wants to end the (trade) war.
During an interview with Bloomberg, Ross echoed a cautious warning from inter-administration rival Peter Navarro by saying that China’s moves are “very preliminary” but “very welcome.”
“They’ve started to make some very early stage, very preliminary, but very welcome moves,” Ross said in an interview on Bloomberg TV on Thursday.
Ultimately, the success of the negotiations – which reportedly have a “hard” March deadline – will depend on how many of the requests are met and whether China will agree to enforceable measures.”
When it comes to prosecuting Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, Ross said Trump “hasn’t committed” to intervening in her case – implying that he has seriously considered it. Whatever happens with Meng, there will be an enforcement hearing with Huawei in the US, not Canada. And offering an update from another front in the administration’s global trade war, Ross said that USMCA (better known as “Nafta 2.0”) will need to be passed under a new Congress, not during the current “lame duck” session.
Ross certainly seemed confident during the interview, but scepticism has been growing regarding how much influence Ross really has in the trade talks with China. Trump’s patience with Ross and his personal foibles – the investor is struggling with ethics scandals that could make him vulnerable to a Congressional ethics probe after the new year – has been wearing thin (remember, according to Bob Woodward, Trump has berated Ross in front of colleagues and accused the billionaire investor of being “past his prime”). When the White House released the list of officials who would accompany Trump to Argentina, Ross’s name was conspicuously absent (even Peter Navarro, who was recently relegated to a broom closet in the West Wing after flying off the handle last month, was there).
But while these slights suggest that Ross’s influence in the administration has waned since inauguration day, the billionaire investor has managed to hang on thus far (defying yet another round of speculation that he’d resign/be pushed out by year’s end).
via RSS https://ift.tt/2zTMxm8 Tyler Durden