China wants a 'balanced' trade deal at summit, but the US isn't interested - CNBC

One of the key issues that will be discussed between U.S. and China officials at this week's G-20 summit in Japan is getting a balanced deal.

China believes any new agreement will need to be evenhanded, while U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told his Chinese counterparts that balance won't happen, according to CNBC's Kayla Tausche, citing a person with knowledge of the White House position.

The reason why the U.S. will not prioritize balance is because of China's past trade transgressions. Among other things, China has been accused of stealing U.S. technology.

President Donald Trump has targeted China for tariffs as he seeks level ground and to reduce the deficit the U.S. has consistently run in trade between the two sides. The deficit in 2018 stood at $419.5 billion and was already at $106.9 billion through the first four months of 2019, according to Census Bureau data.

Trump said Wednesday he would like to see a deal but is content with where things are now. "They want a deal more than I do," he told Fox Business Network.

The U.S. has levied 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and has threatened to put additional duties on the remaining $300 billion of imports.

Chinese officials have hopes that they can get some of their issues resolved since Trump has tightened the clamps on the trade issue. Among their priorities will be a lifting of the ban on the sale of U.S. technology to Huawei Technologies and to get all current tariffs dropped, CNBC has confirmed.

Trump is being joined in Osaka by multiple members of his trade team, including Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and economic advisor Peter Navarro, who has pushed for an aggressive posture with China, Tausche reported, adding that the key deputies have reached out to their Chinese counterparts.

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2019-06-27 15:11:33Z
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Iran warns US against 'repeating mistake' of violating borders - Aljazeera.com

Iran's parliamentary speaker has warned the United States against violating the country's borders, cautioning such a move would draw a "stronger" reaction than the downing of a US drone a week ago.

In comments carried by Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency on Thursday, Speaker Ali Larijani said the shootdown of the unmanned aerial vehicle was "a good experience for them to avoid any aggression".

"Iran's reaction will be stronger if they repeat their mistake of violating our borders," Larijani said.

Tehran said the Global Hawk surveillance drone was in its territory when it was shot down by a surface-to-air missile on June 20. Washington rebuffed that claim, saying the aircraft was in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz when it was hit.

US President Donald Trump ordered retaliatory attacks on Iranian installations over the incident - which marked the first direct Iranian-claimed attack on US assets amid an escalating crisis between the two powers - before calling them off at the last minute.

Trump later said too many people would have died had the attacks gone ahead.

Also on Thursday, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that Trump was mistaken in thinking a war between their countries would not last long.

"'Short war' with Iran is an illusion," Zarif wrote on Twitter a day after Trump said he did not want a war with Iran but warned that if fighting did break out, it "wouldn't last very long".

Misconceptions endanger peace @realDonaldTrump:

- Sanctions aren't alternative to war; they ARE war

- "Obliteration"=genocide=war crime

- "Short war" with Iran is an illusion

- Whoever begins war will not be the one ending it

- Negotiations and threats are mutually exclusive

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 27, 2019

War of words

The war of words between Washington and Tehran has since escalated, with Trump this week threatening Iran's "obliteration" after President Hassan Rouhani called the White House's actions "mentally retarded".

On Wednesday, Trump said any war between Iran and the US would be swift, but reiterated his desire to avoid a military confrontation.

The US leader has been a frequent critic of Iran's leaders, accusing them of sowing disorder and unrest in the Middle East.

INSIDE STORY: Will the US attack Iran? (25:51)

Tehran, meanwhile, has accused Trump's administration of "economic terrorism" and "psychological warfare" over Washington's application of punishing sanctions after Trump withdrew from an historic nuclear deal with world powers.

Under the 2015 agreement, Iran agreed to scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Tehran said earlier this month it would breach the limit of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium mandated under the deal by Thursday, and threatened to take further steps on July 7 to increase uranium enrichment purity levels over the 3.67 percent limit set in the agreement.

Citing unnamed diplomats, the Reuters agency reported Iran was still short of the cap on enriched uranium, however, but was on course to reach that limit at the weekend.

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On Wednesday, the UN nuclear watchdog verified Iran had roughly 200kg of low-enriched uranium, below the deal's 202.8kg limit, three diplomats who follow the agency's work told Reuters.

US-European talks

Tehran's announced plan to breach the deal was widely interpreted as a bid to ramp up pressure on the agreement's remaining signatories - the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China and Russia - to deliver protection from the US sanctions for Iran's faltering economy.

Iran's European partners are expected to announce a multimillion-dollar credit line at a summit in the Austria's capital, Vienna, on Friday.

The credit line is aimed at keeping alive economic ties between European governments and Tehran by helping a special mechanism establish a route for trade between Iran and the West, unnamed officials told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

Amid European efforts to salvage the deal, US officials also launched a diplomatic campaign to rally their allies in the face of the escalating crisis.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo jetted to the Middle East on Monday to meet leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Gulf Arab states that favour the toughest possible line against Iran.

On Thursday, the US special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, will meet British, German and French officials in Paris for talks.

https://aje.io/8rugp

Hook is expected to receive a frosty reception from Washington's European allies, who support the nuclear deal and believe Trump's decision to quit the accord was a mistake that has strengthened Iran's hardline faction, weakened its pragmatists, and raised the prospect of open conflict in the Middle East.

Since quitting the deal, Trump has deployed more military assets to the region along with thousands of additional troops.

The moves coincided with a series of mysterious attacks on oil assets in the Gulf that Washington has blamed on Tehran, which has in turn repeatedly denied responsibility for the explosions.

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2019-06-27 14:30:00Z
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Angela Merkel seen shaking at event in Berlin, second time in just over a week - Fox News

Angela Merkel seen shaking at event in Berlin

For the second time in a week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared unsteady and shaking. The most recent instance occurred during a ceremony with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

For the second time in just over a week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared unsteady and began visibly shaking at a public event in Berlin on Thursday, rekindling concerns about her health.

Merkel was standing alongside President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a ceremony in Berlin where Germany's new justice minister was being formally appointed when she was seen trembling as she folded her arms across her chest.

The 64-year-old chancellor was handed a glass of water but rejected it

ANGELA MERKEL SEEN VISIBLY SHAKING WHILE STANDING NEXT TO UKRAINE’S PRESIDENT; BLAMES DEHYDRATION

About a half hour later, when she arrived in parliament, Merkel appeared to be fine, according to Sky News. She then set off a few hours later to Japan for the annual summit of the Group of 20 global powers.

Angela Merkel was seen shaking at a public event for the second time in less than two weeks as she stood alongside President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a ceremony in Berlin. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

A spokesman for the German leader, Steffen Seibert, dismissed any concerns over her health, telling news agency dpa that "everything is going ahead as planned. The chancellor is fine."

Germany is currently experiencing a record-breaking heatwave that has engulfed much of Europe. German weather agency Deutscher Wetterdienst said Wednesday a preliminary reading showed it reached 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit in Coschen, Germany, near the Polish border. The new record is a tenth-of-a-degree higher than the previous national record for June, set in 1947 in southwestern Germany.

Angela Merkel was seen shaking at a public event for the second time in less than two weeks. A spokesman on Wednesday dismissed any concerns over her health, saying "the chancellor is fine." (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

It is not publicly known if Merkel, who has led Germany since 2005, has any health problems as German privacy laws are very strict on that type of information.

But the incident came after Merkel's whole body was seen shaking last Tuesday as she stood outside in hot weather at an event in Berlin. The German leader, who is set to step down in 2021, then pursed her lips as she tried to remain steady as she stood next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Merkel dismissed concerns at the time, saying it was just dehydration and she felt fine after drinking three glasses of water that she "obviously needed."

ANGELA MERKEL ADMITS ANTI-SEMITISM IS A PROBLEM IN GERMANY, COUNTRY NEEDS TO FACE 'SPECTERS OF THE PAST'

This was not the first time Merkel has been seen shaking under similar circumstances in the hot sun, according to the dpa news agency. It did not give a date for that incident but said it was also ascribed to Merkel not drinking enough water.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, trembles strong as she and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, left, attend the national anthems as part of a military welcome ceremony in Berlin, Germany. AP Photo/Michael Sohn (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

The chancellor has a reputation for stamina garnered in years of late-night domestic and European negotiating marathons.

On Wednesday, she was on her feet in public for around two hours for events that included answering lawmakers' questions in parliament before giving a speech across town. During that period there was no sign then of any health issues, according to the Associated Press.

Merkel has rarely had to cut back her work schedule significantly — though she did so for a few weeks in 2014 when she cracked her pelvis while cross-country skiing in Switzerland during a winter vacation.

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Last year, Merkel said she won't seek a fifth term as chancellor and won't seek any other political job after her current term ends in 2021.

She gave up the leadership of her center-right party after a pair of poor state election performances that followed a rocky start to her fourth-term government. She has shown no sign since of wanting to give up the chancellorship before her term is up.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-06-27 13:55:16Z
CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZveG5ld3MuY29tL3dvcmxkL2FuZ2VsYS1tZXJrZWwtc2Vlbi1zaGFraW5nLWF0LWV2ZW50LWluLWJlcmxpbi1zZWNvbmQtdGltZS1pbi1qdXN0LW92ZXItYS13ZWVr0gFvaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZm94bmV3cy5jb20vd29ybGQvYW5nZWxhLW1lcmtlbC1zZWVuLXNoYWtpbmctYXQtZXZlbnQtaW4tYmVybGluLXNlY29uZC10aW1lLWluLWp1c3Qtb3Zlci1hLXdlZWsuYW1w

Angela Merkel seen shaking for second time in weeks - CNN International

Merkel, 64, appeared to clutch her arms together to keep herself still as she attended an event with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday.

The incident, at a farewell ceremony for Justice Minister Katarina Barley, was captured on a live feed by the Reuters news agency. At one point she was handed a glass of water, which she waved away.

Merkel's spokesperson later told CNN that the chancellor is "fine."

"Everything is taking place as planned. The chancellor is well," he added, indicating that Merkel would still take part in this weekend's G20 summit in Japan.

The chancellor attended the country's parliament half an hour later for the swearing-in of the new justice minister. According to Reuters, she then appeared relaxed and showed no signs of shaking as she talked and laughed with her vice chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

Earlier this month Merkel was seen shaking dramatically as she met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin. She blamed dehydration for that incident.

"Since then I have drunk at least three glasses of water -- I obviously needed that and so I'm doing very well now," Merkel told reporters at a press conference with Zelensky shortly after video of her tremors was circulated.

Tremors can be caused by a number of conditions, ranging from neurological disorders to less serious issues such as medicinal side effects, stress or caffeine consumption.

Germany is in the midst of a record-breaking heatwave, with temperatures hitting 38.6 degrees Celsius (101.5 Fahrenheit) in parts, though Berlin was cooler than much of the country on Wednesday.

Merkel, who has been chancellor since 2005, is approaching the end of her lengthy tenure.

She will not seek reelection when her current term ends in 2021, she announced last year, telling reporters the position had been a "very challenging and fulfilling task."

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, widely seen as Merkel's protege, was elected as leader of the Christian Democratic Union party last year and will likely lead it into the 2021 federal elections.

CNN's Simon Cullen and Amy Woodyatt contributed to this report.

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2019-06-27 12:19:00Z
CBMiUGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNubi5jb20vMjAxOS8wNi8yNy9ldXJvcGUvYW5nZWxhLW1lcmtlbC1zaGFraW5nLXNjbGktaW50bC9pbmRleC5odG1s0gFUaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuY25uLmNvbS9jbm4vMjAxOS8wNi8yNy9ldXJvcGUvYW5nZWxhLW1lcmtlbC1zaGFraW5nLXNjbGktaW50bC9pbmRleC5odG1s

Angela Merkel seen shaking for second time in weeks - CNN International

Merkel, 64, appeared to clutch her arms together to keep herself still as she attended an event with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday.

The incident, at a farewell ceremony for Justice Minister Katarina Barley, was captured on a live feed by the Reuters news agency.

Merkel's spokesperson told CNN that the chancellor is "fine."

"Everything is taking place as planned. The chancellor is well," he added, indicating that Merkel would still take part in this weekend's G20 summit in Japan.

Earlier this month Merkel was seen shaking dramatically as she met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin.

"Since then I have drunk at least three glasses of water -- I obviously needed that and so I'm doing very well now," she told reporters at a press conference with Zelensky shortly afterwards.

Germany is in the midst of a record-breaking heatwave, with temperatures hitting 38.6 degrees Celsius (101.5 Fahrenheit) in parts, though Berlin was cooler than much of the country on Wednesday.

CNN's Simon Cullen and Amy Woodyatt contributed to this report.

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2019-06-27 11:20:00Z
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China to Insist U.S. Lifts Huawei Ban as Part of Trade Truce - Wall Street Journal

Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Trump will have a lunch meeting Saturday after a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan. Photo: fred dufour/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

By

Lingling Wei and

Lingling Wei
The Wall Street Journal
• Biography
• Lingling.Wei@wsj.com

Bob Davis

Bob Davis
The Wall Street Journal
• Biography
• @bobdavis187
• Bob.Davis@wsj.com

Updated June 27, 2019 6:32 am ET

OSAKA, Japan—Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to present President Trump with a set of terms the U.S. should meet before Beijing is ready to settle a market-rattling trade confrontation, raising questions of whether the two leaders will agree to relaunch talks.

Among the preconditions, said Chinese officials with knowledge of the plan, Beijing is insisting that the U.S. remove its ban on the sale of U.S. technology to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. Beijing also wants the U.S. to lift all punitive tariffs and drop efforts to get China to buy even more U.S. exports than Beijing said it would when the two leaders last met in December.

The U.S. chief trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, and his Chinese counterpart, Liu He, talked by telephone this week on ways to get the talks back on track and expect to meet in person in advance of the presidents’ Saturday lunch meeting after a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, said people familiar with the discussions. It is far from clear what the two will manage—and whether their bosses will approve their work.

Despite his preconditions, Mr. Xi isn’t expected to take a confrontational tone with Mr. Trump, according to the Chinese officials. Rather, they say, he will sketch out what he envisions as an optimal bilateral relationship, which includes China’s help on security issues vexing to the U.S., especially Iran and North Korea.

For their part, U.S. officials say they are going into the meeting looking to see whether their Chinese counterparts are willing to pick up negotiations from where they broke off. According to U.S. and Chinese officials, the two nations were close to a trade deal in April when, in the U.S. view, China reneged on provisions. It is up to Beijing, U.S. officials feel, to get the talks back on track.

“So we went in and we thought we had a deal, and we went in and then they said, ‘You know, we’re not going to give you certain things that we agreed on,’” President Trump told Fox Business Network on Wednesday. Unless China gets the talks back on track, Mr. Trump said, he was ready to go ahead with what he called “Phase 2”—assessing levies on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports not currently hit with tariffs. He said he could start with 10% tariffs on items including such consumer mainstays as clothing, mobile phones and laptop computers.

That was the tactic Mr. Trump used with the last $200 billion of goods—starting at 10% to put pressure on Beijing without significantly disrupting the U.S. economy, and then shifting to 25% when he felt China was backsliding.

Some corporate lobbyists are hoping that talks produce a plan to finish negotiations by a specific deadline. That way, the two sides will be under pressure to deliver—and President Trump would presumably refrain from moving ahead with tariffs during that time period.

The Chinese leader isn’t expected to make big concessions at his meeting with Mr. Trump. That is because he is facing increased political pressure on the home front to stand firm against Washington, which is seen among elite Chinese political circles as unfairly accusing China of a range of misdeeds, from violating intellectual-property protection, improperly subsidizing state-owned enterprises and spying on U.S. firms.

“The Chinese side hopes to set a tone for the relationship going forward,” said a person briefed on China’s plans in Beijing.

President Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, are set to meet in Japan. All eyes will be on the world’s two most powerful leaders, but can they resolve their disputes? Photo: Getty Images

Mr. Xi is expected to find a tough audience in Mr. Trump, who continues to vow to raise tariffs and is counting on his hard-nosed stance on China to be a political plus during his re-election bid. “The incentives not to do a deal are getting stronger,” said Hudson Institute China scholar Michael Pillsbury, who consults with the White House. With a deal “either Xi or Trump would suffer criticism. That wouldn’t have happened six months ago,” said Mr. Pillsbury.

A trade cease-fire, if reached, could give the two sides momentum and a possible path to rapprochement on a number of other tense fronts, from disputes over China’s expansive hold on the South China Sea to the U.S. campaign against Chinese technology firms over security concerns, which in recent days has expanded to include more Chinese companies in addition to Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications gear-maker.

U.S. negotiators have tried to keep the Huawei issue separate from the trade talks, though Mr. Trump has several times talked of packaging Huawei in a trade deal. A Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman, at a regular briefing in Beijing on Thursday, urged the U.S. “to immediately rescind the suppression and sanction measures against Huawei and other Chinese enterprises.”

As part of a deal, Beijing is seeking the removal of all additional tariffs imposed by the U.S. since early last year—25% levies on $250 billion in Chinese imports. Beijing also has said U.S. demands for Chinese purchases of American goods should be “reasonable”—meaning, according to Chinese officials, they must be based on domestic Chinese demand, rather that requiring China to divert purchases it now make from other countries.

Related Coverage

• Hopes for Resolving U.S.-China Trade Fight Hinge on Trump and Xi
• American Tariffs on China Are Being Blunted by Trade Cheats
• Huawei Hits Back at Claims It Steals Secrets

Some Chinese government advisers have said that U.S. negotiators raised the purchasing target to an additional $300 billion a year in exports from current levels. In talks last December, the discussed figure was $200 billion. Even hitting that $200 billion number would be unlikely. It would require more than doubling of U.S. exports to China, which were $120.1 billion in 2018 and $129.8 billion in 2017 before the trade battle began.

Chinese officials have also repeatedly said the text of any agreement should be “balanced”—meaning the U.S. should make some concessions to China as well. China hasn’t publicized its demands. In the past, Beijing has asked for more high-tech exports from the U.S. and an easier path for Chinese to get visas and business approvals in the U.S.

In recent weeks, President Xi has been seeking to increase Beijing’s bargaining position with Washington. Last week, Mr. Xi met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, becoming the first Chinese leader to visit the reclusive state in 14 years.

By strengthening China’s ties with North Korea, especially at a time of deadlocked talks between Pyongyang and Washington, Mr. Xi was sending a message to Mr. Trump that China could still help the U.S. ease the tensions in the Korean Peninsula. Some U.S. officials said they believe Mr. Xi is playing a positive role.

The mood and agenda of the Osaka G-20 meeting contrasts sharply with the last time the leaders met at a Buenos Aires G-20 in December. Then, the two sides met for a leisurely dinner. Chinese officials saw China’s economy as shaky, and Mr. Xi was keen for a deal to shore up business confidence.

Soon after, Canada arrested a senior executive of Huawei at the U.S. request on charges related to violating Iran sanctions, and Washington began to ratchet up moves to slow the flow of technology to Huawei and portray it as an espionage threat. Huawei denies the accusations.

More nationalistic voices in the Communist Party and in the public gathered volume in accusing Washington of trying to use the trade fight to stop China’s rise and undermine the state-led economic model that has delivered strong growth for decades.

Mr. Trump faces his critics too—and many Democratic presidential candidates willing to pummel him if he accepts what is seen as a weak deal with China after hitting U.S. consumers with higher bills through tariffs. At Wednesday night’s Democratic primary debate, four of 10 candidates picked China as the greatest threat facing the U.S.

Write to Lingling Wei at lingling.wei@wsj.com and Bob Davis at bob.davis@wsj.com

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2019-06-27 10:32:00Z
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China's Xi to present Trump with terms for settling trade deal: WSJ - CNBC

Chinese President Xi Jinping chats with President Donald Trump during a welcome ceremony in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2017.

AP Photo | Andy Wong

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to present U.S. President Donald Trump with the terms it expects the U.S. to meet before Beijing is willing to settle the contentious trade fight between the two nations, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing Chinese officials.

Among the conditions Beijing is expected to set, China will demand the U.S. remove its ban on the sale of U.S. technology to Huawei Technologies, Chinese officials with knowledge of the plan told the Journal. China also expects the U.S. to remove all tariffs and drop efforts to get China to buy more U.S. exports.

Trump is in Japan to meet with world leaders amid a flurry of international crises, tense trade negotiations, and a mounting global to-do list.

Trump is attending the annual Group of 20 summit and then is going to South Korea where he'll address the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. Air Force One touched down at Osaka International Airport in a rainstorm ahead of high-stakes meetings with Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's Xi, and a host of others at the gathering of the leaders world's largest economies.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce maintained a firm stance against the U.S. during a weekly press conference Thursday.

"We urge the U.S. to immediately cancel its pressure and sanction measures on Huawei and other Chinese companies, and push for the stable and healthy development of China-U.S. trade relations," Gao Feng, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce said in Mandarin, according to a CNBC translation.

Gao added the China is unchanged on its position on the trade dispute, as laid out by lead negotiator and Vice Premier Liu He in May.

Read the complete Journal report here.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

—CNBC's Evelyn Cheng and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-06-27 09:55:26Z
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