The latest trade summit involving the U.S. and China will take place at the Mar-a-Lago resort the last week of March.
The meeting arrives after the failure of the Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam earlier this year. The notoriously unpredictable U.S. president could walk away from discussions and so it’s politically crucial for China’s President Xi Jinping to avoid that outcome.
Both sides will need to exercise caution. Relying on negotiators to conclude an enforceable agreement is difficult given the complexity of the issues, and a consensus will be required.
Key issues of the future summit, including industrial subsidies for state-owned enterprises (SOE), the forced transfer of technology from joint venture companies in the U.S., and the theft of U.S. intellectual property will be difficult for China to come to terms with, especially with those hawks in the conversation led by Robert Lighthizer, and congressional Democrats who will not accept a compromise.