The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer crossed the wires in the last minutes, saying that he is not sure if tariffs alone will cause China to stop cheating but added they didn’t have a better instrument. Below are some key quotes from Lighthizer as reported by Reuters.
“The U.S. is ‘making headway’ regarding agricultural access in trade talks with Japan.”
“Hopeful the U.S., Japan will have trade agreement in the next few months.”
“U.S. trade team to meet Japanese trade officials on sidelines of G20 in Osaka.”
“Dialogue is proven to be unsuccessful in pushing for trade reform with China.”