The high-stakes trade negotiations between the U.S. and China are running into trouble as the two countries attempt to finalize a limited trade agreement.
The U.S. is trying to secure stronger concessions from China to regulate intellectual property protections and to stop the practice of forced tech transfer in exchange for rolling back some of the tariffs, CNBC’s Kayla Tausche reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The two sides are at a stalemate even though the U.S. and China said they had an agreement in principle less than a month ago.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the roadblock in the trade talks, adding China is hesitant to commit to a specific amount of agricultural products in the text of a potential deal. China has agreed to buy up to $50 billion in U.S. farm goods as part of the so-called phase one trade deal, President Donald Trump claimed last month.
Stocks rapidly pared gains following the news.
The two countries reached a truce last month and started working to finalize a limited trade agreement which is expected to be signed later this month. China is insisting on a rollback in existing tariffs as part of that deal, but the U.S. has showed opposition to such a removal.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC on Tuesday there will be no tariff adjustments until a trade deal with China is made. He added the two sides have made progress on IP theft, financial services, currency stability, commodities and agriculture.
The Trump administration has slapped tariffs on more than $500 billion in Chinese goods, while Beijing has put duties on about $110 billion in American products.
—Click here to read the original Wall Street Journal story.
