Ball is now in China's court following trade talks: Former US Deputy Secretary of State
Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Negroponte on U.S. trade talks with China and tensions with North Korea.
Chinese officials vowed to strike back against the U.S. for increased tariffs on Chinese goods, but former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told FOX Business he doesn't think they will retaliate anytime soon.
“My guess is that Mr. Liu He, the Chinese vice premier, probably reached the limit of his instructions. He may be on a pretty tight leash, and he has to go back for fresh instructions, so I think it gives the Chinese a chance to have a look, review the situation and decide how they want to move next in regard to our proposals," he said on “Cavuto: Coast-to-Coast” Friday.
The new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, after U.S. and China officials were unable to come to a new trade agreement during talks this week.
Negroponte predicts, without being privy to the actual talks that “the ball is now in China's court.”
He also thinks the Trump administration has given China a little bit of leeway with the announcement of the 25 percent tariff wouldn't be implemented on any products that arrive in the U.S. before June 1st.
"I think the best thing for them to do would be to find a way to accommodate our requests, which I don't think are that unreasonable. Some of them involve medium or longer term structural changes regarding conditions about tech transfer for foreign direct investment and so forth," Negroponte said.
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Negroponte said he got the sense that the “body language” coming out of the White House seems to be that the U.S. is in a manageable situation and not in “crisis mode.”
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said Friday that trade talks with the U.S. went “fairly well” this week. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also told reporters he found the latest talks to be “constructive,” but did not provide any further details.
President Trump noted in a series of tweets that “talks with China continue in a very congenial manner – there is absolutely no need to rush.”