China to allow in more Hollywood movies to appease Trump on trade deficit, says researcher
Concession among measures likely to be discussed at trade talks agreed during two nations’ presidential summit last week, according to state think tank researcher
China is likely to import more American meat, including pork and beef, and allow more Hollywood movies to be shown on the mainland in the coming months to show that Beijing is taking steps to cut its trade surplus with the United States, a Chinese government researcher said.
Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a think tank under the Ministry of Commerce, said China may also buy more oil and natural gas from the US as concessions in trade talks be held within 100 days after the summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Florida last week.
“The concessions are relatively easy for China to make,” Mei told the South China Morning Post. China’s gestures and a rise in imports from the US “would enable Trump to claim quick achievements and in exchange China can ask for bigger market access in the US”, he said.
China will probably start by increasing soybean and pork imports from the US and lift a ban on US beef imports, which has been in place since 2003, to narrow the US$347 billion annual trade surplus in goods enjoyed by China, Mei said.
“As many of Trump’s supporters are from agricultural states ... it’s worth buying more farm produce from them as a reward for Sino-US friendship,” Mei said.
