It seems that Beijing's trade arrangements with Europe are complicating American efforts to radically change trade relations with China, writes Michael Ivanovitch.
Washington is announcing that has largely agreed on an enforcement mechanism with Beijing to monitor bilateral trade while China continues to accumulate soaring surpluses on its goods sales to the U.S.
Had Beijing made such a gesture of smart statecraft, it would have smoothed the way to a fast and reasonable trade agreement. And it is quite possible that such a gesture could have also opened up a new chapter of friendlier, more cooperative and more productive bilateral relations. China has now become the EU's second-largest trade partner, closely behind the United States. Beijing's share of EU trade has tripled since 2000 to 15.4 percent, and is now only slightly below the U.S. share of 17.1 percent. The big difference is that last year the EU ran a 184 billion euro trade deficit with China, while recording a 140 billion euro trade surplus with the U.S.
The U.S. National Security Council publicly disapproved, saying that Italy's"Endorsing BRI lends legitimacy to China's predatory approach to investment." Last week's annual EU-China summit in Brussels was held in a friendly atmosphere as Beijing committed to concluding an investment agreement, a work-in-progress since 2013, by the end of next year or earlier. That document should rule out China's industrial subsidies and forced technological transfers while opening up markets for EU companies.
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