Hard-line US demands on China raise stakes in trade talks

BEIJING – A list of hard-line demands that the Trump administration handed China this week could make it even more difficult to resolve a trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies.

That’s the view of trade analysts who say the U.S. insistence that Beijing shrink America’s gaping trade deficit with China by $200 billion by the end of 2020, among other demands, is more likely to raise tensions than to calm them. The thrust of the demands is that China should give up policies that favour domestic companies especially in a strategic rivalry with the U.S. over technology.

An editorial on Saturday by the Communist Party’s mouthpiece the People’s Daily says China is willing to engage in talks but would not give in to strong-arm tactics that hurt China’s interests.