Clete Willems Appears on CNBC to Discuss Status of US-China Trade Deal

Akin Gump public law and policy partner Clete Willems has been quoted from a CNBC television appearance in the article “U.S.-China trade deal will hold for now, former Trump trade negotiator says.”

Washington and Beijing signed a phase one trade deal in January following an extended period of tensions that saw both sides slapping punitive tariffs on each other’s goods. Willems told CNBC that he thinks the deal will hold because “China’s actually doing a good job at implementation.”

Looking ahead to the U.S. presidential election, Willems said the deal “remains a winner for [President Trump] because he was able to get China to make certain commitments that others have failed to do and the U.S. really didn’t … give up much in exchange. They kept almost all of the tariffs in place. So, it still allows the President to say he’s tough and he got a deal.”

For investors who are confused about the status of the trade deal following comments by White House trade advisor Peter Navarro that it had collapsed, Willems advised not to read too much “into any one statement made by any one advisor. A lot of us in the administration did have different views,” but anything this significant would come from President Trump himself.

Willems added that there also needs to be a greater focus around “decoupling” of the world’s two largest economies.

“The China Phase One deal is basically the only example right now of policy making in Washington where we’re trying to open up markets in China and we’re trying to expand our ties,” said Willems. “You have to look at the broader range of all the U.S. policy on China. I think investors are not as concerned about that as they should be.”