The White House’s top economic adviser has accused Beijing of doing “nothing” to defuse trade tensions ahead of a likely meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the G20 in Argentina next month, damping expectations of a truce in the economic warfare between the US and China.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said China had offered no sign that it was willing to meet US demands in a way that could lead to a breakthrough between the countries.
This year, the US has slapped tariffs on $250bn of Chinese goods — or nearly half of its imports — while the Chinese have retaliated with tariffs on $110bn of US goods in an escalating conflict that has clouded the global economic outlook. Mr Trump has demanded sweeping changes to Chinese economic policy, including a reduction in their bilateral trade deficit, and a clampdown on practices such as industrial subsidies, and forced technology transfer. But so far these have been met with resistance by Chinese officials, who judge them as unrealistic and contrary to their interests.