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Exclusive | Trade war: US-China deal deadline ‘likely to be missed’, former US trade negotiator Wendy Cutler says
- ‘The last mile is always the most difficult’, former official tells China Conference USA
- Both sides have said they are close to an agreement, but each needs to ‘show they got something’, she says
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A former US government trade official has warned that China and the United States are likely to miss a looming deadline to reach an agreement meant to pave the way for an end to their trade war.
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“Both sides have said that they are very close, but I can tell you as a trade negotiator that the last mile is always the most difficult,” former acting deputy US trade representative Wendy Cutler said, speaking at China Conference USA: Competition or Cooperation? sponsored by the South China Morning Post.
“You need a win-win deal that both sides need to be able to go home and show that they got something,” she said.
Cutler, currently managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Washington office, said conflicting considerations would increasingly weigh on chief negotiators with new tariffs set to come into force on Sunday.
Both sides have said that they are very close, but I can tell you as a trade negotiator that the last mile is always the most difficult
“It’s going to be particularly important [for China] to be able to announce that they’ve achieved a … balanced deal, that it’s not just China that is undertaking commitments in this deal, but also the United States,” she said.
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“What China is telling the United States is that it is not enough just to not go ahead with the December tariffs, but they also want to see some existing tariffs lifted.”
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