Trump’s top official - "an agreement with China on trade is difficult"

Recently the NHK News on-line reported the following:

米高官「中国と貿易面での合意は困難」

2018年11月10日 8時47分

アメリカのトランプ政権の高官は貿易問題で対立を深める中国について、南シナ海やサイバー攻撃の問題でも約束を守らなかったと非難し、中国と貿易面で合意を結ぶことは容易ではないという認識を示しました。

トランプ政権で対中国強硬派として知られる通商政策担当のナバロ大統領補佐官は９日、ワシントン市内で講演しました。

この中でナバロ補佐官は、中国政府がオバマ前政権との間で南シナ海を軍事化しないことや、サイバー攻撃で企業の秘密などを盗まないことを約束しながら、ことごとく破ってきたと非難しました。

そのうえで、貿易問題で対立を深める中国との交渉について「最大の問題は信用だ。日本やヨーロッパとの交渉とは違う」と述べ、中国と貿易面で合意を結ぶのは容易でないという認識を示しました。

さらにナバロ補佐官は、今月下旬にアルゼンチンで開かれる主要20か国首脳会議＝Ｇ20サミットで米中首脳会談を開く方向で調整が進められているとしたうえで、ゴールドマンサックスやウォールストリートの関係者が中国政府と協議し、貿易摩擦の解消に向けた合意を結ぶようトランプ大統領に圧力をかけてきている、と主張しました。

そして「中国のために働くアメリカの億万長者たちの協力は必要ない。トランプ政権の交渉能力を弱めるだけだ」と述べ、名指しはしなかったものの中国と合意を結ぶよう求める勢力を批判しました。

Translation

A top official of the American's Trump administration, regarding the deep confrontation in trade with China, criticized that China did not keep its promise on the South China Sea and on the cyber attack; he admitted that it was not easy to conclude a satisfactory trade agreement with China.

On the 9th Navarro, the president’s assistant on trade policy who was known as an anti-Chinese hard-liner inside the Trump’s administration gave a talk in Washington city.

In the talk Navarro the assistant accused China in breaking its promise made to the former Obama administration that Chinese government would not militarize the South China Sea and would not steal the secret of enterprises by cyber-attacks; he accused that China had completely broken these.

On top of that, about making an agreement with China on trade which was in serious conflicts, he stated that "The biggest problem is trust. It's different from negotiations with Japan and Europe." He admitted that to reach a satisfactory negotiation with China on trade would not be easy.

Navarro the assistant had suggested that while on top making adjustments so as to advance towards reaching a China-U.S. summit meeting during the key 20-country summit meeting = G20 Summit scheduled to be held in Argentina at the end of this month, he insisted that the people related to Goldman Sachs and Wall Street had discussed with the Chinese government, and that they were pressurizing president Trump to reach an agreement to stop the trade friction.

Also, he said "in dealing with China the help of the American billionaires was not necessary. The ability of Trump’s political power to negotiate would only be weakened".  While not spelling out the names, he criticized those forces that asked for reaching an agreement with China.

              During a political confrontation between two countries, it seems that the side having a dictatorial political structure would have an advantage over the side that has a democratic political system. The former society often follows the decision of one person. The latter often treasures the discussion process among the people before reaching a decision, although it could take a lot of time and effort.