Trump's $250 Billion China Haul Features Little of Substance
Source: Bloomberg News
November 8, 2017, 10:55 PM EST Updated on November 9, 2017, 3:54 AM EST
The headline number is impressive: A quarter-trillion dollars worth of deals from China that President Donald Trump can use to show he’s creating opportunities for U.S. businesses and jobs for his base.
The reality, however, is that the roughly 15 agreements unveiled on Thursday are mostly non-binding memorandums of understanding and could take years to materialize -- if they do at all. A day earlier, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced $9 billion of deals, many also MOUs with few details, rather than contracts.
“To me this is an old-style visit when you pile up all the deals so you can to get a big number,” said James McGregor, China chairman of the consultancy APCO Worldwide. “This was normal when the U.S. and China were just building ties, but now China is a global business power and has very damaging industrial policies and this seems naive. This is all for show for President Trump to demonstrate his deal-making prowess.”
Both Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed the deals on Thursday, calling them examples of “win-win” cooperation between the world’s biggest economies. At the same time, Xi said that China would open its market according to its own “timetable and roadmap” while calling to respect each other’s “differences” -- showing that Trump will find it harder to press him for substantive policy changes.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-09/trump-s-250-billion-china-haul-is-big-number-little-substance
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...comes with a side order of republican lies.
Seriously perfect for reaching voters succinctly, IMO exactly the kind of messaging we need.
Plus the snark is a delicious turnabout for their smarmy smugness.
