MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trump opposes renegotiating US-China Phase 1 trade deal despite Beijing concerns

The Global Times tabloid reported on Monday that advisers close to the talks have suggested that Chinese officials revive the possibility of invalidating the trade pact

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he opposed renegotiating the US-China “Phase 1” trade deal after a Chinese state-run newspaper reported some government advisers in Beijing were urging fresh talks and possibly invalidating the agreement.

Trump, who himself has considered abandoning the pact signed in January, told a White House press briefing he wanted to see if Beijing lived up to the deal to massively increase purchases of US goods.

“No, not at all. Not even a little bit,” Trump said when asked if he would entertain the idea of reworking Phase 1. “I'm not interested. We signed a deal. I had heard that too, they'd like to reopen the trade talk, to make it a better deal for them.”

The Global Times tabloid reported on Monday that unidentified advisers close to the talks have suggested that Chinese officials revive the possibility of invalidating the trade pact and negotiate a new one to tilt the scales more to the Chinese side.

The Global Times is published by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party. While not an official party mouthpiece, the Global Times' views are believed at times to reflect those of its leaders.

Hours after the report was published, Chinese importers on Monday bought at least four cargoes, or about 240,000 tons, of US soybeans on Monday for shipment beginning in July, and additional sales are possible. The purchases were the latest in a recent string by China, which US officials say has also begun implementing other parts of the trade deal regarding intellectual property protections.

The US Trade Representative's office did not respond to repeated queries on the Global Times article.

Under the Phase 1 deal signed in January, Beijing pledged to buy at least US$200 billion in additional US goods and services over two years while Washington agreed to roll back tariffs in stages on Chinese goods.

Trump, who has blamed China's early handling of the new coronavirus outbreak in its central city of Wuhan for thousands of US deaths and millions of job losses, said last week he was “very torn” about whether to end the Phase 1 trade deal. Those comments came just hours after top trade officials from both countries pledged to press ahead with implementing the agreement.

Rising US-China tensions over the coronavirus outbreak have cast the trade deal and proposed talks on a Phase 2 deal into doubt.

The Global Times said malicious attacks by the United States have ignited a “tsunami of anger” among Chinese trade insiders after China made compromises in the Phase 1 pact.

“It's in fact in China's interests to terminate the current Phase 1 deal,” a trade adviser to the Chinese government told the Global Times, citing the weakening US economy and upcoming

US presidential elections. “The US now cannot afford to restart the trade war with China if everything goes back to the starting point.”