At a hearing with the House Ways and Means Committee this week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said it’s unclear if negotiations with China will bring the trade war to an end. Politico says that’s a far more cautious outlook than President Trump has presented recently.
Lighthizer says “much still need to be done” before a deal can be reached between the two countries. He also warned that negotiations, as well as the broader U.S. trade agenda, will crumble if Congress doesn’t pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Pact.
“It just has to pass,” Lighthizer says. “If it doesn’t, you’ll have no credibility at all with China and you’ll have no credibility on any deals with your other trading partners.”
The USTR office is set to formally postpone raising duties on $200 billion in Chinese goods, which was set to happen on Saturday. There is no new date set for potentially hiking up the tariffs. Lighthizer is planning a trip to Tokyo, Japan, probably in the next month, to discuss China and open up U.S.-Japan trade negotiations.