First China mocked Trump’s unsolicited tariff delay “olive branch” as evidence that the US is now losing the trade war. Now, the Asian superpower has also made it clear that the proposed delay – which came out of the blue and was not made in exchange for any concessions from Beijing – will be too little, too late, and that if Trump hopes China will resume agricultural imports from the US simply in exchange for the 2.5 month delay in imposing the new Chinese import tariffs, he will be waiting for a long time.
As a reminder, yesterday in his tariff delay takeaway note, Standard Chartered’s Steven Englander said that in his view, “the US will expect China to reciprocate by buying US agricultural products in the coming weeks.”
Alas, as Global Times editor in chief and legendary twitter troll, Hu Xijin made clear moments ago (on twitter, of course), such a reciprocal action won’t be coming, and instead China will be demanding that Trump revert back to the Osaka G-20 “ceasefire” which means scrapping the newly proposed tariffs entirely, for negotiations to resume as “the Chinese side requests that both sides respect the consensus reached at Osaka summit, which is removing all additional tariffs, not delaying some”, to wit:
As far as I know, the Chinese side requests that both sides respect the consensus reached at Osaka summit, which is removing all additional tariffs, not delaying some. I doubt Chinese side will resume large-scale purchase of US farm products under current circumstances.
As far as I know, the Chinese side requests that both sides respect the consensus reached at Osaka summit, which is removing all additional tariffs, not delaying some. I doubt Chinese side will resume large-scale purchase of US farm products under current circumstances. pic.twitter.com/74vf9PrKXo
— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) August 14, 2019
So if Trump is expecting Beijing – as a token of its appreciation – to resume importing US agri products in coming weeks, he will not only be disappointed, but will most likely respond with even harsher measures at what he sees as China’s “irrational” obstinacy. In other words, it’s only a matter of time before the trade war returns front and center, in its most violent iteration to date.
Not surprisingly, the market seems to agree.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/33ySu54 Tyler Durden