"We Won’t Make Unilateral Concessions": China Denies It Offered To Slash U.S. Trade Gap By $200BN

Overnight, experts and pundits were stumped by the biggest geopolitical news from Thursday: how could China possibly - or feasibly - agree to a $200 billion cut in the US-China trade deficit, even if merely to placate President Trump. Speaking to Bloomberg, Victor Shih, a China politics and finance professor at the University of California in San Diego said earlier that he finds an agreement to cut the U.S. deficit by $200 billion "difficult to contemplate."

"Even with a drastic reallocation of Chinese imports of energy, raw materials and airplanes in favor of the U.S., the bilateral trade deficit may reduce by $100 billion," he said. "A $200 billion reduction would mean a drastic reduction in Chinese exports to the U.S. and a dramatic restructuring of the supply chain."

On Friday morning we got the answer: the entire story was nothing more than the latest fake news concocted by a "US official" and then promptly spun by the US media without actual confirmation by China.

And so, the mystery of just how China would shrink its $200 billion trade deficit with the US died on Friday morning, when China gave the answer: it wouldn't, after Beijing denied it had offered the deficit-cutting package, just hours after it dropped an anti-dumping probe into U.S. sorghum imports in a conciliatory gesture as top officials meet in Washington.

“This rumor is not true. This I can confirm to you,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang politely told a news briefing saying "the question is about some US officials who said China will cut the deficit. As I understand, the relevant consultations are ongoing and they are constructive,” he said, adding that he could not elaborate on the specifics of the negotiations.

Commentary posted in an article on WeChat accounts run by Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily overseas edition was less restrained, and said that the offer to cut China's trade surplus with the U.S. is "nonexistent" and that reports that China accepted the U.S. demand to narrow the trade gap are “purely a misreading."

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