State of the Union: US confronted China on trade but relations are the best ever, Donald Trump says

WASHINGTON D.C., Feb 5, 2020, SCMP. United States President Donald Trump lauded the interim US-China trade deal in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, calling it a “groundbreaking” agreement that would force China to stop its trade malpractices, South China Morning Post reported.

The deal would “defend our workers, protect our intellectual property, bring billions of dollars into our treasury, and open vast new markets for products made and grown right here in the USA,” Trump said in the annual message delivered by the US president to Congress.

This year’s address came on the eve of the final day of Trump’s impeachment trial – expected to end with an acquittal by his fellow Republicans in the Senate, in which they hold a majority – and as Iowa kicked off the Democrats’ presidential nomination contest.

China and the US signed the so-called phase one trade deal on January 15. In it, China agreed to increase its purchases of agricultural, manufacturing and energy products from the US in exchange for the reduction of punitive tariffs on Chinese products.

Trump said in his address that the strategy to impose tariffs to “confront China’s theft of American jobs” had worked, but that he had developed an improved relationship with China, including with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“For decades, China has taken advantage of the United States; now we have changed that, but at the same time we have perhaps the best relationship we have ever had with China, including with President Xi,” Trump said.

“They respect what we have done because, quite frankly, they could never believe what they were able to get away with year after year, decade after decade, without someone in our country stepping up and saying ‘enough’.”

In reality, the tech war between the two countries has continued to gather steam. The US has continued to pressure its allies to block access to the global 5G market by Chinese telecoms company Huawei.

China was also unhappy that the US on Friday imposed a blanket ban on entry for travellers who have visited mainland China in the previous two weeks – the first country to do so in response to the coronavirus outbreak – saying the US was overreacting and spreading fear while failing to provide any substantial help.

The White House has said that China agreed to allow American health experts into the country to help, but that China did not react very enthusiastically.

A US source with knowledge of the trade talks said it may be too early to assess the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the implementation of the interim trade deal.

“Much will depend on how quickly it is contained,” the source said, adding that the deal was probably lower on Chinese leaders’ list of priorities while the country focused on battling the deadly outbreak.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said in an interview with Fox Business Network on Tuesday that the virus outbreak would delay a surge in US exports to China.

“It is true the trade deal, the phase one trade deal, the export boom from that trade deal, will take longer because of the Chinese virus,” he said.