Reacting to China announcing Thursday that top U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators agreed to meet early next month for another round of talks, CNBC’s Jim Cramer says that U.S. economic strength empowers President Trump to keep playing hardball on China trade.
Matthew J. Belvedere for CNBC:
President Donald Trump can continue to take a hard line on China trade because the U.S. economy keeps chugging along, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday… Cramer was reacting to China announcing on Thursday that top U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators spoke by phone late Wednesday and agreed to meet early next month for another round of talks. U.S. officials confirmed the call but not the October timetable, saying only that talks would happen in the “coming weeks” in Washington.
“The Chinese still need it more than we do,” Cramer said, pointing to the strong U.S. labor market, with Thursday data on weekly jobless claims showing only a small uptick and the ADP private payrolls report for August coming in much better than expected.
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully, the talks early next month produce a more balanced U.S.-China trade relationship along with verifiable protections of U.S. intellectual property.
I’m cognizant that in both the U.S. and China, there have been cases where everyone hasn’t benefited, where the benefit hasn’t been balanced. My belief is that one plus one equals three. The pie gets larger, working together. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, March 24, 2018
The United States is insisting that all countries that have placed artificial Trade Barriers and Tariffs on goods going into their country, remove those Barriers & Tariffs or be met with more than Reciprocity by the U.S.A. Trade must be fair and no longer a one way street!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2018
At least half of the popular fallacies about economics come from assuming that economic activity is a zero-sum game, in which what is gained by someone is lost by someone else. But transactions would not continue unless both sides gained, whether in international trade, employment, or renting an apartment. — Thomas Sowell, June 14, 2006