South China Morning Post Quotes Clete Willems on Likelihood of US/China Trade Deal
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Akin Gump public law and policy partner Clete Willems has been quoted in the South China Morning Post article “Trade war: China deal unlikely this week with US distracted by USMCA, but new tariffs not expected.” The article reports that, with the final touches being put on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, time is running out to reach a trade deal with China.
According to the article though, while December 15 is seen as a deadline for Washington and Beijing to reach an agreement, new U.S. tariffs are not expected to come into force, due to the fear that American companies may end up on China’s entity list and be blocked from doing business there.
Willems agrees that a trade deal will not be reached by December 15. “There are still difficult things to work out and [U.S. Trade Representative Robert] Lighthizer is focused on the USMCA end game at the moment. That said, I’m not betting on tariffs either,” he said. “Another round of tariffs would likely yield the unreliable entities list from China, further political hardening, and all but end the chances of a deal before the election. I don’t think either side wants that.”