Trump has repeatedly insisted that his regime has made great progress during trade talks with Chinese officials, but Trump is a pathological liar so we can't take his word for it.
We may instead listen to a Trump regime official who occasionally tells the truth by accident.
Commerce secretary and living fossil Wilbur Ross appeared on CNBC where he said American and Chinese officials are "miles" away from finding a resolution.
A 30-member Chinese delegation plans to come to Washington next week for talks, he said, as the world’s two largest economies try to meet a March 1 deadline to resolve their trade disputes, but Ross tried to tamp down expectations for the high-level talks.
“There is a very large group coming. There’s been a lot of anticipatory work done but we’re miles and miles from getting a resolution and frankly that shouldn’t be too surprising,” Ross said in an interview with CNBC. [...]
Ross said the two sides were unlikely to resolve all their disputes in next week’s talks, but added, “I think there’s a fair chance we do get to a deal.”
Indeed, I am not surprised.
Trump's tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods are suppose to automatically increase from 10 to 25 percent on March 1st if the two sides do not reach a deal. You may recall that his tariffs were originally suppose to increase on January 1st but the increase was delayed following the G20 meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
I consider it more likely than not that Trump's increase in tariffs will be delayed again if they cannot reach a deal, but it's also worth considering what a "deal" could even look like.
Recent reports tell us the Chinese have offered to buy more American products, but they would have done so anyway if had Trump not launched a trade war last year.
Recent experience with Trump's inconsequential quest to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tells us Trump will likely end up accepting something that does not change the status quo in any meaningful way and will not be noticeable to the vast majority of Americans.