U.S. and China Are Closer Now with Trade Pact, but EU May Challenge Them at WTO

Jan. 23, 2020 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump wrote yesterday in a tweet that the just-signed trade deal will bring the U.S. and China closer in many ways: “One of the many great things about our just signed giant Trade Deal with China is that it will bring both the USA & China closer together in so many other ways. Terrific working with President Xi, a man who truly loves his country. Much more to come!”

One example of this closer cooperation is that the U.S.-China Civil Space Dialogue will meet this spring for the first time since 2017, as we reported in the EIR Daily Alert on Jan. 22, to seek cooperation in space exploration while not violating the pernicious Wolf Amendment, which seeks to prevent both countries from such advances.

From Europe comes opposition to the U.S.-China deal. Speaking at Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Jan. 16, the day after the agreement was signed, EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said that the EU will consider challenging the pact’s compliance with WTO rules. (British writers have frequently complained that the deal was concluded totally outside of the WTO, an outfit President Trump detests.) Hogan also whined that the agreement’s dispute-settlement provisions favor China.