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WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has issued a decree to increase the number of parcel post inspections to crack down on cargoes of counterfeit and deadly drugs from foreign countries, including China.
This order would entitle the US Postal Service to increase the number of small parcel air inspections arriving in the country, according to several people familiar with the project, who declined to be named, as they were not allowed. They were not allowed to speak in public. This would help remove a loophole that allowed dangerous drugs like fentanyl, an opioid, and other contraband, to move to the United States without control.
The measure is not specifically aimed at China. But this comes as negotiations between the United States and China over a trade deal stagnate and President Trump continues to blame China for failing to prevent shipments of fentanyl from flocking to the United States. Late last month, Trump had announced that he was asking the postal service and private US companies such as FedEx, Amazon and UPS to search for parcels from China for fentanyl and refuse delivery. On September 1, Trump imposed more tariffs on imports from China to punish Beijing's refusal to stop shipments of fentanyl and its refusal to buy more US agricultural products.
"Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said it would stop – this is not the case, " Mr. Trump said in a tweet last month, referring to Xi Jinping, President of China.
The decree would apply only to the postal service, not to private companies like FedEx or UPS. The order was designed to apply to all countries, although the effects weigh most heavily on China, a main source of counterfeit and fentanyl products as well as small packages shipped to the United States.
Despite months of negotiations, negotiators still seem far from a comprehensive trade deal that would resolve the Trump administration's concerns about Chinese economic practices, including the violation of US intellectual property.
The two sides were on the verge of reaching an agreement this spring, when Chinese leaders decided that some US demands to change their laws violated Chinese sovereignty too much. Since then, Trump has taxed an additional $ 112 billion worth of Chinese products and is expected to raise rates further in the coming weeks. China has imposed additional duties on US $ 75 billion worth of retaliatory goods.
Tensions between the two sides have eased slightly in recent weeks as Chinese officials agreed to travel to the United States in October for the next round of talks. On Wednesday, China released a short list of US products that would be exempted from its new tariffs and announced that it would announce more exemptions in the coming weeks. The exemptions were for anti-cancer drugs and certain chemicals that China did not manufacture in the country, but did not include US exports such as pork and soybeans, which had been targeted by Beijing to punish Mr. Trump.
In a speech to the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump hailed the exemptions as a sign that China would soon make compromises, saying the trade war "would only worsen" and "they want to wrap up a deal".
"They removed tariffs, some types," he said. "I think it was a gesture. It was a big shot. People were shocked. I was not shocked.
Even in this case, China and the United States seem to have made little progress on the substantive differences that prevented them from signing an agreement. Chinese officials highlighted the recent changes they had made to the laws governing foreign investment and intellectual property, rather than discussing the more substantial changes requested by the Trump administration.
Business leaders say they already face tariffs and expect lower profits and wage cuts if other levies are put in place. A survey by the US Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai on Wednesday revealed that the trade war weighed on its members' expectations of revenue growth and optimism about future and future investment plans. . Moody's Analytics estimates that the trade war has already cost 300,000 American jobs, a figure that could rise to nearly 450,000 by the end of the year and nearly 900,000 at the latest, assuming that tariff increases provided by Mr. Trump come into effect.
In recent months, the trade agreements, where the United States and China have stalled, have abandoned some of their objective: there may be an interim agreement providing for US purchases of agricultural products by China on the US relations. Between the countries.
The Chinese authorities and their contacts have launched the idea of ​​relaunching the purchase of agricultural products, in exchange for the postponement of tariff increases by the United States and the relief granted to Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant who had been excluded from the purchase of American products, several people familiar with the record said me.
Trump was deeply frustrated by China's refusal to buy US farm products in recent months. This measure would help the president by supporting a constituency important to him politically and also increasingly opposed to the trade war.
But such an interim agreement is also revealed elusive. The president and his advisers are increasingly aware of the risk that Huawei represents for national security and are aware that they would face criticism from Democrats and Republicans who gave in. US officials may consider cutting some tariffs in exchange for economic concessions from China, but they will probably not do so for agricultural purchases, say Trump's allies.
The Chinese, for their part, know that buying agricultural products would reduce political pressure on Mr. Trump and potentially increase his chances of re-election, and it is unlikely that they will easily trade this source of influence. , said people familiar with their thinking.
At a Senate hearing Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the two countries were discussing soy purchases, but rejected suggestions that the United States would be easily bought.
"I have sometimes been accused of wanting to sell soy. That's not what we're trying to do, "Mnuchin told legislators at the hearing. "We want to ensure that China treats our farmers fairly and does not retaliate against them unfairly."
"In any discussion, we are talking about agricultural purchases," he told reporters in comments after the hearing. "It's very important for us to defend our farmers."
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