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Trump, whose administration is weighing punitive actions against Beijing for its early handling of the virus outbreak as economic damage increases, said he was “watching closely” whether China would honor its commitments to increase purchases of US goods in under the trade agreement.
He said China was buying a large amount of US agricultural products, but questioned whether the purchases were at the levels necessary to meet the commitments of the agreement on US agricultural and manufactured goods, energy and services. USA
“I will be able to report in about a week or two, not just with farmers, but with many other industries as well,” Trump said.
“They understand they have an agreement and hopefully they will get it and we’ll see. They can. They may not. We’re going to find out,” Trump added.
Under the trade agreement, China agreed to increase its purchases of US goods from a 2017 baseline by $ 200 billion over two years, with an increase of approximately $ 77 billion in purchases in the first year and $ 123 thousand. million in the second year. But the health crisis hit Chinese demand hard and its economy is just beginning to recover.
Trump’s promise to control Chinese purchases of American goods comes as both sides close their horns on the origins of the new coronavirus, which has infected more than a million people in the United States. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the pathogen emerged from a laboratory in China.
“The relationship that seemed to have developed between the two countries during their trade talks is now only a distant memory,” the state-controlled China Daily wrote in an editorial on Thursday.
“Despite the positive outcome of those discussions and the constructive interaction that incubated the negotiations, it is Washington’s dirty policy of always blaming China that has discouraged the world’s two largest economies from fighting shoulder to shoulder to combat contagion , even though it is common. enemy. ”
Washington has pledged to start negotiations with Beijing on a Phase 2 trade deal that addresses government subsidies and the thorniest technology transfer issues, but there has been no effort to start these talks since the coronavirus has blocked much of it. of the United States economy.
US authorities have said they are weighing actions against China, including possible tariffs and measures to alienate China’s supply chains.
When asked about this at a White House briefing, Trump said, “We are in the midst of some very big things, so I don’t want to talk about it now.”
But comments by White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday highlighted a deepening gap between Washington and Beijing.
“Right now it is a relationship of disappointment and frustration because the president has said how frustrated he is that some of China’s decisions put the lives of Americans at risk,” McEnany said.
The China Daily editorial urged Washington to withdraw from a confrontational position.
“It doesn’t have to be that way, though,” he said.
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