Washington should do more to ensure the smooth implementation of the phase one China-US trade deal, rather than talking it down, smearing China to divert domestic attention amid the pandemic and provoking new conflicts, Chinese experts urged. China is carrying out the deal firmly for now, they noted.
A Bloomberg report said that “China still has a $139 billion mountain to climb to meet the US trade deal.”
As of end-May, China had only bought about 19 percent of the total purchase target of more than $170 billion for goods in 2020. That leaves $139 billion by year-end to meet the terms of the agreement signed in January, Bloomberg reported, saying the figure was based on calculations from customs data.
China has bought more than Bloomberg calculated, said Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, and a close follower of the trade deal.
In a recent sign of China’s implementation of the deal, state-owned enterprises bought at least three cargoes of US soybeans in early June, Reuters reported. The purchases, totaling at least 180,000 tons of oil seed, were earmarked for shipment in October or November.
Bloomberg also said there was a significant jump in energy imports in May, and China imported more meat than in April or March.
Chinese officials are still firmly carrying out the hard-won trade deal, Gao said, but some people and organizations are talking about using the agreement as a “bargaining chip” amid strained China-US ties. “The voices are being heard, and the government will decide.”
“Rather than counting every purchase, the US should really rethink its own actions, given how important the deal would be to the election and economy,” Gao said.
Gao noted threats by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said the US is ending “exports of US-origin defense equipment and will take steps toward imposing the same restrictions on US defense and dual-use technologies to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.”
It seems that the US is doing everything to cut China’s options in its purchases from the US, said Gao.
Experts also mentioned the US’ failure to curb the pandemic, which hinders its ability to supply products to China.
“If the US faces problems … due to the pandemic, China will also fully understand. They could negotiate and step up purchases later in the year,” Gao said.
China suspended imports from Tyson Foods, one of the largest meat producers in the US, on Sunday, over cluster cases of COVID-19.
“If food from the US is contaminated, we should maintain strict checking standards,” said Song Guoyou, a deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, adding that technology should be treated separately to carry out the deal.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He speaks during the China-US phase one trade deal signing ceremony held in the White House on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua
