White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro is not painting an encouraging picture of the upcoming trade talks:
"In terms of this rhetoric about trade war, trade dispute … this really isn't about trade per se, it's about what I've called the seven deadly sins: It's the structural issues that we're dealing with China"
the seven issues the administration is pressing China to change under his direction:
- Cyber hacking.
- Intellectual property theft.
- Forced technology transfer.
- Goods trade imbalance.
- China state-owned subsidies.
- Currency manipulation.
- Sending fentanyl to kill countless Americans.
"This is not a [just] trade deal - this is a big deal"
Been saying this for a long time … there will be no deal, or of there is it'll be something meaningless at the margin, a few boat loads of soybeans or something.
