Chinese negotiators reportedly walked back key terms of a trade agreement hammered out with their Washington counterparts, sparking a tweet threatening tariffs from President Trump.
Reuters reported Wednesday that U.S. officials received a cable from Beijing on Friday that contained numerous edits to the previously agreed upon terms, prompting complaints that China was attempting to abandon its promise to address issues such as theft of trade secrets and intellectual property.
{mosads}“This undermines the core architecture of the deal,” a source in Washington familiar with the negotiations told Reuters.
“China reneged on a dozen things, if not more. … The talks were so bad that the real surprise is that it took Trump until Sunday to blow up,” the source continued. “After 20 years of having their way with the U.S., China still appears to be miscalculating with this administration.”
Chinese sources contended that Beijing’s commitment to changing its laws could not be part of the agreement, according to Reuters, despite the two sides previously agreeing to binding language that would force China to abandon laws that allow for unfair trade practices.
The new terms from China reportedly prompted Trump’s threat to increase existing tariffs by Friday if Chinese negotiators do not reach a deal with their U.S. counterparts first.
“For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods,” Trump tweeted on Sunday. “These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results. The 10% will go up to 25% on Friday.”