The U.S.-China trade deal is developing positively, but there are still fundamental problems to be resolved, experts say.
Stephen Moore, the Heritage Foundation economist who advised President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, said it’s too premature to call it a done deal yet.
“I think it’s more of a truce than a deal,” Moore said. “I mean, I think it’s basically a kind of time-out on this trade war.”
Moore also said this deal doesn’t change the fundamental problem that the United States has with China.
“We don’t feel like it’s a level playing field. We do believe we’re in an abusive trade relationship with China,” Moore said. “We’re not going to tolerate that for much longer.”
Frank Xie, China expert and professor at the University of South Carolina, said the fact that Beijing called Friday for a press conference shows that they need this deal more than the United States because there are many structural problems facing the Chinese economy.
“The biggest one is the shifting of the supply chain away from China, we have seen with the tariffs ongoing, the manufacturers and investors are moving their plants out of China,” Xie said during a telephone interview.
One thing both experts agree with is that the Chinese communist regime can’t be trusted.
“With these trade deals with China is that they, the Chinese government does not keep its word. And that’s a big problem,” Moore said.
“Overall I don’t really believe U.S. government really having full faith in Chinese communism, and don’t trust the Chinese government anymore,” Xie said.
