The Art of the Worst Possible Deal: Diplomatic expert breaks down Trump's terrible China negotiating
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In the midst of a Trump-designed trade war, President Xi Jingping and a group of Chinese officials visited D.C. to lay the groundwork for a new trade agreement. What they found was a bungling group of ‘keystone cops’ who were incapable of showing a unifieThe Art of the Worst Possible Deal: Diplomatic expert breaks down Trump's terrible China negotiating
In the midst of a Trump-designed trade war, President Xi Jingping and a group of Chinese officials visited D.C. to lay the groundwork for a new trade agreement. What they found was a bungling group of ‘keystone cops’ who were incapable of showing a unified front—and the Chinese took full advantage of the Trump administration’s incompetence. The New York Times summarized the meetings thusly: By the time American negotiators wrapped up high-level talks with a visiting Chinese delegation last week, President Trump’s ambitions for a multibillion-dollar trade agreement had, for the time being, shriveled into a blandly worded communiqué without any dollar figures. It was not clear that the talks set a path to success. Ceaseless infighting and jockeying for influence on the White House’s trade team helped deprive Mr. Trump of a quick victory on his most cherished policy agenda, several people involved in the talks said. The deep internal divisions carried over into how officials characterized the agreement and muddied the outlook for the next phase of the negotiations between Washington and Beijing. The internal divisions of Trump’s White House staff and Cabinet have been simmering for months. Earlier this year in Beijing, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro had a heated argument in front of Chinese officials: During that trip, Mr. Mnuchin agreed to a private meeting with China’s top economic official, Liu He, without Mr. Navarro or any other members of the American delegation. He and Mr. Navarro stepped outside to engage in a profanity-laced shouting match, an unmistakable demonstration to the Chinese of their deep differences of opinions. Mr. Mnuchin sought to play down tensions between the American officials, saying on CNBC that Mr. Navarro was “an important part of the team.” Swell. Nice united front you put on there, fellas. Worse than that, the NYT notes the Chinese officials could tell Donald Trump was desperate for any type of a ‘symbolic’ victory that could be trumpeted as a win for himself. So, the Chinese made a few concessions and Trump gave away the farm. Read more