What does winning the US-China trade war look like for Donald Trump and Xi Jinping?
- For Trump to declare victory he needs China to further open its market to American exports; Xi needs the US to eliminate or sharply reduce tariffs
- Some say the most the two sides can achieve in the near term is a ‘mini-deal’
This story is part of an ongoing series on US-China relations, jointly produced by the South China Morning Post and POLITICO.
The United States and China have just five weeks to come up with a deal that both nations can hail as “wins” in their closely watched trade war, and they’re each asking the other for major concessions heading into the next round of talks in Washington next week.
But what does “winning” actually look like for US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping – assuming neither leader gets everything he wants?
For Trump to declare victory by the goals he set for himself, he needs China to further open its market to American exports, especially the agricultural goods hit hard in the trade war. He also is pushing to stop China from forcing US companies to hand over valuable technology, but such moves would require drastic changes on the part of Beijing.
For his part, Xi mainly needs Trump to eliminate or sharply reduce the tariffs the United States has imposed on US$250 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Such moves would help restore badly shaken confidence in the US-China trade relationship at a time when China’s economic fundamentals are deteriorating.
