Global Geopolitical Series: Sino-American trade negotiations unlikely to begin without solid concession proposals from Beijing

The upcoming November G20 leaders’ gathering at Buenos Aires in Argentina unlikely to be a fruitful one for the Sino-American trade negotiations where the U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet for the first time since the beginning of the harsh tariff actions.

If that meeting needs to be a constructive one, then there has to be work done by senior diplomats beforehand. But, according to the Chinese trade negotiators, that Washington is not willing to engage in trade negotiations with China until Beijing comes up with a concrete proposal addressing the American concern with force technology transfer and other economic issues such as unfair trade practices and subsidy programs.

Negotiations have come to a halt in Mid-September as the Chinese side canceled negotiations as the United States moved to impose tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The tariff rate would move to 25 percent from the current 10 percent from 2019.

The U.S. side has confirmed the Chinese version and added that without any concrete proposal from Beijing, it is very likely that there either would be no meeting between the two Presidents or it won’t be fruitful at all.