b'aUgUsT 24 - sePTeMber 13, 2020China trade11Trump cancels China talks, raising questions about trade dealPresidentDonaldTrumpmany of the structural changesments implemented by China saidhecalledofflastweek- it promised on issues such asthat his folks have engineered, endstradetalkswithChina,intellectual property protection,it probably would be worse to raisingquestionsabouttheits purchases of U.S. goods arejust scrap the deal entirely.futureofatradedealthatiswell below where they need to now the most stable point in anbetomeetpromisedtargets,w ells eew haTh aPPens increasingly tense relationship. andtheresalmostnochanceAddressingwhetherthe Icanceledtalkswiththey can be fulfilled now withU.S.wouldpulloutofthe China, Trump said in Yuma,the damage Covid-19 has donephase-one deal, Trump said: Arizona. I dont want to talkto the global economy. A col- Wellseewhathappens. to China right now. lapse of the deal risks leadingTerminatingthedealwould The phase-one trade deal,to a return of the tit-for-tat tariffrequire a written notification whichcameintoforceinwar that hurt trade and compa- and take effect 60 days later, February, had called for dis- nies around the world. unless both parties agree on a cussionsonimplementationThe phase one trade dealdifferent date. Port of Nansha, ranked in the Top 5 of all world containerports, is centrally oftheagreementeverysixhas been the bright spot in theThetalksnevermadeitpositioned on the dynamic west side of south Chinas Pearl river Delta.months.ChineseVicePre- relationship,CharlesFree- on to any official public calen-mier Liu He was supposed toman, senior vice president fordar in Washington or Beijing,(RISINGcontinued fromoftheWestPearlRiver hold a video conference callAsia at the U.S. Chamber ofbut the South China Morningpage 9) Delta, Port of Nansha is fur-with U.S. Trade Representa- Commerce,toldBloombergPostreportedthattheywerehelpfacilitateswifttrucktherbolsteringitsroleas tiveRobertLighthizerandTelevision.Imcertaintheset for last Saturday. Chineseturntimesofasfewas30SouthChinasleadingport TreasurySecretaryStevenpresident looks at the electionforeignministryspokesmanminutes,withoutunneces- forcoldchainlogisticsas Mnuchin,butitwaspost- and equity markets and real- Zhao Lijian said that informa- sarywasteoftimewaitingitsmega-warehousehubfor poned indefinitely. izes that as challenging as ittion on high-level talks will beoutside terminal gates. temperature-controlled cargos WhileChinaismakingmight be to get the commit- released in due course. EmergingastheJeweladvances toward completion. (PAUSEcontinued from page 8)ing in Hong Kong or notan unsettling prospect for the busi-ness community.Whilemosteconomists believe the security laws short-term impact on Hong Kongs businesswillbeimmaterial forthemoment,asCovid-19 andotherlocalissuesareof greater importHong Kongs economy contracted by 9% in the2ndquartercomparedto thesameperiodin2019and theforecastfortheyearare contraction of 6%-8%. None-theless there are worries about how international business will beimpactedgoingforward. Will Hong Kong be able to con-tinue as a premier international trade and financial center?Amcham (American Cham-berofCommerce)inHong Kongrecentlyranasurvey amongitsmembers:To gaugehowthesedevelop-mentshaveimpactedbusi-ness,AmChamaskedits diverse set of member com-paniesfortheirviewsina temperaturetestingsurvey, to which 154 members (13% ofoverallmembership) responded between August 7 and August 11.Almostmoreinteresting thantheactualresultswere themanycommentonthe situation. Mostofthecomments weredirectedattheimpact oftheriftonfinancialser-vicesshouldtheU.S.and China begin a dollar decou-pling:Fundingrequire-mentscouldbeaffectedif USfinancialinstitutionsare preventedfromdoingbusi-ness in HK or US banks pull back on their own initiative, as one AmCham commenta-tor wrote. Ultimately,theissues likeHongKongorHuawei may be just side issues to the greatermovementoftrade butwithPhase1onpause will we ever see Phase 2?'