The U.S.-China Trade Dispute: Where Things Stand

NEW YORK, September 5, 2019 — At a briefing at Asia Society New York, Asia Society Policy Institute Vice President Wendy Cutler discusses the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute. Do the latest rounds of talks have a realistic chance of ending the trade war? What might “winning” look like, for the U.S. and China respectively? And what will the consequences — of a deal, or stalemate — be for the two nations and for the global economy? (53 min., 56 sec.)

[roya]

The world has fundamentally changed. This person is living in the past

[zhaokunwang]

I am wondering why the US companies choose to transfer their technology/technical knowhow to China to establish JV there, rather than staying in the US. What are the reasons that the US companies do not want to invest domestically?

[mactek]

Move your manufacturing back to the US and all the uncertainty and geopolitical risk goes away. If you think this geopolitical reshuffling ends with Trump, you are in for a rude awakening.

[foxtalk]

a fair discussion from Wendy who is really understanding the friction has been equally hurting for both sides, not just as some US local media and gives a fake report to the most middle levels of US people, who don't know nothing about China .

[zeke]

As a therapist with extensive experience with personalities like Trumps, some review of the diagnostic criteria would be most helpful. We are dealing with an individual who is extremely unstable, could care less about anyone/anything other than himself and thrives on being in the news daily. Personally, I find our present situation a very clear and accurate statement about tens of millions of Americans. We are and always have been a belligerent people, who believe physical force settles everything. This not going to end well for America. We are, rapidly, becoming an isolated nation sailing around the world shouting threats in every direction. Third world levels of living standards will not be comfortable.

[tonywyli]

"working with allies against China"? Does USA still has that kind of leverage?

[hong]

Why the USA companies want to make a deal to transfer technology? Because they can make money to sell the technology and also get the Chinese market. This is win win. Chinese cannot force them to make deal. USA can go to other countries to do business too. Why they have to go to China and be forced?

[espyu]

America can choose to buy from more expensive countries but instead decide to buy from China due to cost and yet impose Tariffs ... Strange and certainly unprecedented, To Prevent a Trade Deficit, America could produce more of what other countries wants but most of what USA produce cannot be sold (to just any country) because it's highly sensitive or related to military equipment like fighter jets, WMD or Nuclear Weapons. Besides, wages in America are on a higher level, naturally the cost will higher, hence not competitive.

[willengel]

china just signed a deal with Iran for $400 Billion. there are two parts: $280 is devoted to oil, gas, and petroleum sector and the second part is for infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. china will provide its own security personnel of 2000.
I seriously doubt china is looking for a trade deal. the train just left Tehran station.

[lauraochamney]

China could sell its products to other countries in Europe or Africa, but always remember that America is the largest economy/market in the world. Also, China continues saying it's confusing when it comes to trade deal with the US, but continuing to steal American jobs and technology surprisingly doesn't confuse China at all. Let's get this straight! The US GDP has reached $23 trillion, and the total amount of money from the US exports each year to China, is about $170 billion, which is NOTHING compared to US GDP of $23 trillion. It's in fact less than 1% of the US GDP or 0.74% to be exact, so what's the big deal about the trade deal with China? Stopping the trade deal with China and imposing tougher and higher tariffs on Chinese goods is the right thing to do for our country and for us all. The fact that our trade deal with China accounting for a tiny fraction of our GDP,  has not benefited our economy AT ALL. America is doing just fine, with or without China and our history said it all.

[azizanm]

Relocating is a normal practice by corporations. They'll go where they gets most profits. The problem now, US no longer the only big market. China now the biggest, reason for them to stay.

[winomaster]

The world order established by the US at Bretton Woods has been very beneficial for Europe and the larger world. For the last 75 years the US has been providing freedom of the seas at our own expense. This a huge subsidy from the US. The US has also subsidized peacekeeping organizations like NATO that has kept the peace in Europe for a record length of time. We stabilized Asia and worked to remove the colonial European powers from that region. We made Japan a harmless nation that is a great contributor to growth and peace in the region.

Some say this US contribution to world peace and prosperity will soon be coming to an end. The US will more and more look to its own interests. And by doing this we can enjoy unprecedented prosperity. But the rest of the world will decend into chaos and declining living standards. Beware of what you wish for.

[bvkronenberg]

The Plan is for the US to end trade with China.
But be realistic about the issue. The US had zero, yes zero, trade with China from 1776 until 1990. Trade vastly increased only from 2000 to 2018. The trade was actually only one way... China selling into the US.

Foreign trade for the US is less than a 64th of the US GDP. It is trivial. That is why all the bad consequences have not happened.

Think Tanks and Academics are all paid by lobbyists and corporations to support their issues.

Free trade won’t help the homeless or new college grad.

[winomaster]

To the extent that China wants to take over in Asia, it makes no sense for the US to aid China's growth by trading with them.

China has been growing strongly fo decades now. But it's not a healthy sort of growth. Even if the US does nothing to restrain China's bad trade behavior, they are likely to stall out as Japan has done.

Besides a breaking down of their bank sector, China has a demographic problem with a shrinking workforce and expanding elderly population.

Some say China is likely to break up into five smaller states. But, paradoxicaly this may help them avoid a war in the region

[michaelloo]

Trump and the neocons are the pain in the arse in this trade issues

[ellengran]

China government support their industries - and so does US. US government spend billions on their military industries,
and the President promotes sales all over the world. US counties give millions to industries in order to make them
locate in their county. US argiculture gets subsidies.
The "US economic model", the world order of today, has made the world divided into rich and poor. The wealthy increasing their
wealth by millions every day.
Maybe it is time for a new world order ? In my opinion it seems like a good idea to impliment one part of the "China economic
model" into the US model. If countries all over the world forced foreign countires to "marry a local" (joint venture) when they
plant their seeds (invest) on foreign ground, the profit would no longer just benefit the US owners, but also the country
in which they invest.

[diklumber]

The US subsidies their banking and aviation as well just to name a few.