The Dow Jones Industrial Average stock market index jumped by around 150 points Thursday after Trump tweeted that he would be meeting Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Friday, though Washington and Beijing still find themselves in the midst of a trade war with no end in sight.
Discussions between US and China representatives on Monday and Tuesday in Washington failed to make any progress, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter, the South China Morning Post reported Wednesday. The Chinese reps refused to discuss the issue of forced technology transfers, according to one source, which occur when domestic governments compel foreign businesses to share their technology for market access.
According to Keen, one of the holdups in the US-China negotiations is the topic of intellectual property and forced technology transfers.
“I think the long-term thing is our intellectual property, because it is true that China has taken American technology and has, basically, stolen it in various ways. That’s what it’s been doing in the past … that’s the main lingering sore that is still there,” Keen told hosts John Kiriakou and Brian Becker.
A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to the New York Times also noted that China has not made strides in convincing US negotiators to consider freezing tariff increases. As of now, tariffs on some $250 billion of Chinese goods are scheduled to rise from 25% to 30% on Tuesday. An additional round of US tariffs is also slated for December 15.
Trump might not even want to strike a deal with China - and if he does, it’s not for the right reasons, Keen implied.
“I don’t think he wants a deal .. this is all [for] his reelection, and the Chinese side, they have, I think, been dragging things out,” hoping a candidate other than Trump will be elected in 2020, he said.
“You can’t trust any deal Trump himself negotiates … Trump in his own personal and in his own real estate dealings basically [thinks] there's a winner and a loser in every deal, and he intends on being a winner. Anything he negotiates with the Chinese that looks like it will be a benefit to both sides … This is all going to turn into his attempt to get elected from his totally narcissistic perspective,” Keen added.