By Bob Davis and Vivian Salama
WASHINGTON -- President Trump has named U.S. Trade
Representative Robert Lighthizer to head trade negotiations with
China following a weekend summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping,
people familiar with the decision said.
The president informed Mr. Xi of his decision at their Saturday
meeting in Buenos Aires, the people said, surprising the Chinese,
who have mainly dealt with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Beijing had maneuvered for months to deal with Mr. Mnuchin, who is
close to financial markets and has been trying to pursue a
settlement.
Mr. Lighthizer, on the other hand, has been pressing for more
tariffs on China as a way to build leverage over Beijing and has
focused on fundamental issues dividing the two nations, such as
U.S. allegations that Beijing pressures U.S. companies to turn over
technology to Chinese firms and fails to protect U.S. intellectual
property.
The two men have clashed over the best way to deal with Beijing.
In sessions in Washington and Beijing, Mr. Mnuchin has previously
taken the lead.
The U.S. side has been torn for months over the best way to
approach Beijing. At the Saturday meeting, Mr. Trump agreed to
suspend a planned increase in tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese
goods to 25%, as the two sides negotiate for about three months
over fundamental Chinese economic policies.
Selecting Mr. Lighthizer, the people familiar with the decision
said, gave Mr. Trump more confidence that the U.S. would pursue a
hard line with Beijing. Mr. Lighthizer and his staff also have put
together the case against Beijing that led to tariffs, in line with
U.S. trade law, and are experienced trade negotiators. In similar
talks with the European Union and Japan, Mr. Lighthizer also took
the lead role.
"The decision sets talks in a whole new direction," said Hudson
Institute China scholar Michael Pillsbury, whom Mr. Trump has said
he regards as one of the top China experts and who consults
regularly with the White House. Mr. Trump "steered the discussion
into legal negotiations for which [the U.S. Trade Representative]
will want signed documents that will commit China to a course of
action as opposed to informal negotiations" as Treasury had
pursued, Mr. Pillsbury said.
Jared Kushner, a White House adviser and Mr. Trump's son-in-law,
played an important role in persuading the president to go ahead
with the Lighthizer appointment, said the people familiar with the
decision.
During talks in Buenos Aires on the U.S. side, National Security
Council Asia chief Matt Pottinger also played a significant role,
the people said. He urged the president to pursue more than trade
issues, including Chinese exports of fentanyl, a highly addictive
opioid that has ravaged white rural areas that voted heavily for
Mr. Trump. In Buenos Aires, Mr. Xi pledged a crackdown.
Also important to Mr. Trump was a Chinese pledge to buy more
soybeans and other agricultural goods.
Precisely how the next round of negotiations with China will
kick off isn't yet set. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who has been
China's main negotiator with the U.S., is considering leading a
30-member delegation to Washington in the coming weeks, according
to people familiar with the matter.
It is also unclear how Mr. Lighthizer will arrange the U.S.
side. Treasury traditionally handles financial-sector issues in
trade talks. During this past year, the Treasury undersecretary,
David Malpass, has led a group that included officials from the
trade representative, Commerce Department and other agencies. He
has also pressed Beijing to increase exports of U.S. goods.
Mr. Trump said Monday that U.S.-China relations have taken a
"big leap forward," and pledged his love to the American farmers
who he said would be the "big and fast beneficiary" of renewed
talks.
"My meeting in Argentina with President Xi of China was an
extraordinary one," the president tweeted. "Relations with China
have taken a BIG leap forward! Very good things will happen. We are
dealing from great strength, but China likewise has much to gain if
and when a deal is completed. Level the field!"
Mr. Trump's remark appeared to echo the slogan of Chinese
Communist leader Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward economic program
of the late 1950s and early 1960s, a campaign to collectivize
agriculture and industrial production and catch up with the West.
It resulted in widespread famine and the deaths of tens of millions
of Chinese.
The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for
clarification of Mr. Trump's comment.
After a weekend dinner between Messrs. Trump and Xi at a Group
of 20 summit in Argentina, the U.S. postponed its threat to
increase tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods to 25% from 10%.
But it set a timeline of only about three months for the two sides
to negotiate several issues that have proved largely intractable in
the past.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House late Monday
morning, Mr. Trump's top economic adviser, Lawrence Kudlow,
described Mr. Lighthizer as "a fabulous negotiator" who will be
"deeply involved" in the talks, but said the details on the
negotiations have yet to be finalized.
"I believe Ambassador Lighthizer is going to be in charge of,
shall we say, enforcement and monitoring and timetables," he said,
but noted that the president is ultimately the chief
negotiator.
Mr. Kudlow added that he, Mr. Mnuchin and other senior
administration officials will also be advising the president as
talks progress.
--Kate Davidson contributed to this article.
Write to Bob Davis at bob.davis@wsj.com and Vivian Salama at
vivian.salama@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 03, 2018 12:48 ET (17:48 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.