President Donald Trump says he expects a deal over skyrocketing tariffs with Beijing “over the next three or four weeks.”
But that’s looking increasingly unlikely.
He’s insisting on one-on-one talks with China’s leader, Xi Jinping — and this has stifled other diplomatic efforts to halt the worsening trade war between the two global powers.
The president won’t authorize White House delegates to engage with Chinese officials in Beijing about a detente, according to two former senior State Department officials and an industry official, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive ongoing discussions. The Senate has yet to confirm an ambassador to China; Trump has not appointed anyone else to lead talks with Beijing; and the White House isn’t reaching out to the Chinese embassy to begin discussions.
The absence of any substantial outreach has frozen meaningful communications between the two countries and threatened the likelihood of a near-term solution.
“The backchannels don’t work because President Trump doesn’t want them to,” said Ryan Hass, former director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia at the National Security Council during the Obama administration. “Trump wants to deal directly with President Xi in the same way he has with President Putin. I don’t think he’s particularly interested in outsourcing the transmission of his views to others.”
