With all of the wild news and rumors flying around for years now, color these pages those of the eternal skeptic, willing to dig into the muck and mud of international journalism and the garbage produced by global propagandists, at home and abroad.
The White House immediately released this statement on the WhiteHouse.gov website which is absolutely mind-blowing for those who prefer actual facts:
As I stated last week in the article Trump to Announce a Hopefully Future Trade Deal With 12th Largest Trading Partner, the news tonight from Geneva appears to be promoted by the Trump team as the deal to end all deals while in reality, well, I’ll provide the courtesy of allowing intelligent people make their own determinations.
First up, from Xinhua at 5:25 p.m ET on May 11th:
Chinese vice premier urges China, U.S. to extend list of cooperation
The key excerpts:
GENEVA, May 11 (Xinhua) — Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng urged on Sunday China and the United States to find proper solutions to problems, and extend the list of cooperation.
After skipping over the diplomatic pleasantry comments, here is the meat of the story:
There are no winners in a trade war, He said, adding that China does not want a trade war, but is not afraid of one. If the U.S. side insists on infringing upon China’s rights and interests, China will resolutely retaliate and play along.
He stressed that maintaining stable development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations is in line with the fundamental interests of the two countries and their people, and is also conducive to global economic development.
He urged both sides to explore more potential for cooperation, extend the list of cooperation, make pie of cooperation bigger, promote the continuous new development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations and inject more stability and certainty into the development of the world economy.
The two sides have also agreed to establish an economic and trade consultation mechanism to maintain communication on their respective concerns in the economic and trade fields.
Emphasis added is this author’s not Xinhua, of course. At no point in the discussion from Vice Premier He Lifeng does it state a trade deal has been concluded, imminent, or ready for finalization.
China Daily added on to the mix with this story at 6:28 am Beijing time on May 12th:
China-US trade talks make substantial progress
Here are the key excerpts from the story:
“The atmosphere of the meeting was candid, in-depth and constructive. The meeting achieved substantial progress and reached important consensus,” He told a press conference on Sunday evening.
He said the two sides agreed to establish a consultation mechanism of trade and economic issues, identify the lead persons on each side and will carry on further consultation relating to trade and economic issues of their respective concerns.
The two sides will finalize relevant details as soon as possible and will issue a joint statement reached at the meeting on Monday, according to He.
Asked what will be the exact timing for the release of the joint statement on Monday, Li Chenggang, China’s international trade negotiator and vice minister of commerce, replied with a Chinese saying that if the dish is delicious, then the timing is not a matter.
“No matter when this statement is released, it’s going to be big news and good news for the world,” Li said.
He, the vice-premier, thanked the Swiss government for hosting the meeting and he also said the “professionalism and diligence” of US colleagues was “impressive”.
He expressed that over the past more than three months, the global trade war that was provoked by the US has caught global attention.
It is an interesting perspective to understand the differences in language and presentation from both government representatives of the Chinese delegation. A further excerpt explains why:
“The key is to follow the principle of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation and to find ways to properly resolve issues through equal-footed dialogue and consultation in order to foster a stable, sound and sustainable China-US trade and economic relationship,” he said.
He expressed that the Chinese side is ready to work together with the US side to actively implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state in their Jan 17 phone call, and with a pragmatic approach to problem-solving.
“We are happy to engage in intensive dialogue and equal-footed consultation, manage our differences, tap into the potential of the cooperation, expand the collaborative outcome, and make the pie of mutual benefits bigger,” He said.
“We can promote new development with China-US trade and economic relations and inject more certainty and stability into the world economy.”
Again, no where in the story is anything about a “trade deal” and only flowery promises of something big.
Part of writing this blog allows me to discuss speculative outcomes from global events such as this meeting. If I were to place a wager, the odds are that the big news tomorrow morning will be a pause in the US tariff schedule on China for 90 days, China returning the favor by releasing all pending shipments of rare earth metals and other restricted materials in the same time period, and discussions to begin on a possible Trump-Xi meeting at a neutral site.
Unfortunately for the American economy, there is only a hint of stability being introduced into the larger trade war and no guarantees that China will not liquidate more of their longer dated American credit holdings be they corporate or US Treasuries.
Stay tuned for the “big, big, bigly” announcement tomorrow morning as no one can forecast what will happen next with any degree of accuracy.
