A senior Democratic lawmaker has warned the Trump administration not to settle “easy one-off transactions” with China amid mounting signs that the US president is prepared to strike a deal with Xi Jinping by early March that would avoid a new escalation in tariffs.
Richard Neal, the chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, which has oversight over US trade policy, told the Financial Times that US-China policy had to be “in the best interests” of America “today and for the future”.
“USTR has an obligation to look beyond the political pressures of the moment and the easy, one-off transactions, and secure real and lasting change to China’s anti-competitive behaviour,” Mr Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement to the Financial Times, referring to the office of the US trade representative led by Robert Lighthizer, the chief negotiator with China.