Trump on China: ‘100 Trade Deals’ wouldn’t make up for coronavirus

This week, China took another step forward in the deal by issuing a new list of 79 U.S. products eligible for tariff waivers. The list, released on Tuesday, includes high-value items like the ores of rare earth metals, gold ores, silver ores and concentrates.

Another reason the trade deal still appears to be holding is that Trump is under pressure from U.S. producers not to do anything that might spark retaliatory tariffs from China, and thereby limit their ability to export products to a market where demand is slowly recovering after coronavirus shutdowns.

This countervailing factor was on display most recently when some of Trump’s advisers recommended that the president halt the export of American meat products to China for as long as the American meat supply chain, disrupted by coronavirus, was struggling to supply even U.S. consumers with enough meat.

Instead of restricting exports so that all the meat being processed went to Americans first, Trump signed an executive order effectively forcing meatpacking plants to stay open despite high rates of coronavirus infections among their workers.

At no time, said White House officials, did the president seriously consider limiting exports to China.

CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger, Amanda Macias and Thomas Franck contributed to this article.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to include the FRTIB’s decision on investments, announced Wednesday.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/13/trump-on-china-100-trade-deals-wouldnt-make-up-for-coronavirus.html