Trade Talks With China Open in Washington, as Obstacles Abound
The New York Times | Wed, Jan 30, 2019
by Alan Rappeport
Top officials from the United States and China will sit down in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Wednesday for two days of face-to-face trade talks that could prove critical to the trajectory of the world economy.
Negotiations to end a monthslong trade war between the world’s two largest economies will be led by Robert Lighthizer, the United States trade representative, and Liu He, China’s vice premier. President Trump plans to meet with Mr. Liu at the conclusion of the talks on Thursday.
The countries are facing a March 2 deadline to reach a trade agreement — or the United States will raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports. But there is little chance that every issue will be resolved by that date, and Trump administration officials describe the negotiations as exponentially more complicated than anything the White House has tackled to date.