Clete Willems Speaks with National Broadcast Outlets on G7 and US-China Trade

Akin Gump public law and policy partner Clete Willems has made several recent broadcast media appearances discussing last week’s G7 summit meeting as well as the state of trade talks between the United States and China.

On CNBC Asia, Willems argued that world powers, such as Japan, the United Kingdom and France, should help the United States “pressure China to help get a [trade] deal.” He said he hopes the Trump administration, where he formerly served as a top trade negotiator, “can capitalize” on the message of unity that came out of the G7.

In an interview on FOX News Channel, Willems stated that, while this is “a very tough undertaking that the administration is involved in,” the United States could not allow China’s “unfair trade practices to go on forever because that would be much worse for [the U.S.] economy than any short term impact of tariffs.”

Those unfair trade practices, Willems told BBC Radio, are not just hurting the United States, “but they’re also hurting the EU, they’re hurting the U.K., they’re hurting Japan and they’re things that we need to deal with. We need to get to a deal one way or another.”

Willems said the business community generally “has been quite supportive” of the Trump administration’s stance on China, though there has been less satisfaction with some of the other actions being taken, pointing out that he advised President Trump to try to “dial down the tension” with the European Union, Japan and others.

Willems also appeared this week on FOX Business, where he addressed what he thinks will be needed to push Washington and Beijing closer to a trade deal.

“This isn’t going to happen at the deputies level. It’s not going to happen over the phone. And even when the leaders get together, it’s too short, it’s too high-level to get into the weeds here. So the question is, are [U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and their counterparts] getting together and talking about the things that matter. And they haven’t been doing it much lately.”

“The one thing I’m looking for,” Willems added, “is, are they getting in a room, because that’s the only way I think this thing is going to get done.”

Willems also addressed a report that the Commerce Department has received hundreds of thousands of requests seeking licenses to sell to Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies. This comes just two months after President Trump said some sales would be permitted.

It’s a difficult issue, Willems said. The U.S. “is trying to balance national security with the economic issues and I think you’re going to continue to see that happen.”