© IBD
China is apparently reluctant to hold any trade negotiations with the US under the current circumstances as it said it would not talk under pressure, even though it did not completely forgo the negotiations, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Chinese officials. It also said that the latest moves of the Trump administration might jeopardize the potential trade talks with Beijing, which the US officials themselves had sought.
"China never said it doesn't want to negotiate with the US," Yang Weimin, a former senior economic and foreign policy adviser to President Xi Jinping, said Sunday, as cited by the WSJ. He added, however, that Washington should first "show sincerity" in its desire to resolve the trading dispute. "China is not going to negotiate with a gun pointed to its head," the official noted.
The fate of the talks, which could potentially take place later in September, is still unclear, another official said. "There is a lot of uncertainty right now," the unnamed official told the media, adding that "if more tariffs come out, the Chinese side could very well choose not to go."
Comment: Neither side is backing down - risking the potential to destabilize the financial and manufacturing situations in both countries. See also: