America’s growing impatience with China
As President Trump negotiated a trade truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires last weekend, an arrest 7,000 miles away created another complication between the world’s largest economies. Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of Chinese telecom giant Huawei and the daughter of its founder, was arrested in Vancouver on December 1 on suspicion of violating US sanctions on Iran.
Meng’s arrest won’t keep the US and China from beginning negotiations, likely next week in Washington. Both sides have much to gain from reopening talks. Trump is under pressure from jittery equity markets and Chinese tariffs on US agricultural products, and Xi is eager to get relief from US tariffs that contribute to a slowing Chinese economy.
But the arrest highlights the fact that fundamental conflicts between the US and China are getting worse, not better, even as the sides try for a détente on trade. Beijing and Washington face technological and geopolitical fissures that may defy efforts to keep them separate from the trade talks.
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