00:00Wendy Cutler is vice president at the U.S.-based think tank, the Asia Society Policy Institute, and a former assistant U.S. trade representative.
00:09The possible resolution of the TikTok issue is a welcome development.
00:14This has been an irritant in our relationship and has been going on for way too long.
00:19So I welcome that.
00:21However, I am struck by the fact that they had very little to say, both the Chinese and the U.S. delegation, about discussion on other topics.
00:32Because let's remember, there's so many different irritants and challenges in this relationship.
00:39And I would hope that we're also making progress on other areas as well.
00:44The Chinese delegation highlighting American sanctions on Chinese entities, overstretching the concept of national security.
00:53They talked about unilateral bullying.
00:55Of course, we've seen four rounds of high-level talks.
00:58The U.S. open to considering further tariff pauses, though, now, if the next stage of talks are positive.
01:04Do you think there are signs of the differences narrowing?
01:07I think there are signs that both sides are positively engaging.
01:13But I'm not sure if real substantive progress is being made.
01:18USTR Greer clearly held out the possibility, and I think it's a very strong possibility,
01:25that the lower tariffs will be rolled over for another 90 days come November.
01:30But it's really those export control issues that are going to be a real challenge in the relationship,
01:37because China clearly wants the U.S. to hold back and lift some of these restrictions.
01:45And the United States, while it opened the door on a narrow amount of export controls a few months ago,
01:53seems very intent on not opening that door further.
01:57Washington continues to tighten restrictions on semiconductors, while Beijing, of course, launched probes into U.S. chips.
02:05We're hearing from Scott Besson, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, saying that the timing of this probe into NVIDIA was unhelpful.
02:12Are we witnessing the beginning of true tech decoupling, do you think, or is this just hard bargaining?
02:17I think it's a combination of both.
02:20Look, both sides, China and the U.S., are looking, when it comes to high tech, to separate and not to integrate our markets.
02:30That said, we have a lot of trade and, you know, a very robust trade relationship in other areas.
02:36So I would hope that we could find a way forward on those other areas.
02:41But, you know, it's going to be tough.
02:44And both sides are talking more about stabilizing this relationship.
02:49And I think the Chinese delegation mentioned that word a number of times versus improving it or strengthening it.
02:56So I think we're in a world where these meetings are going to be more about making sure things don't get worse versus looking for a path forward to get on, you know, a new track in bilateral economic relations.
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