US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer Talks China, Energy & Canada Trade

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

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Jonathan Ferro (0:07)

Let's talk about the most important meeting taking place this week, the US and China. Laying the groundwork for this week's Trump-Xi summit. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson and the US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer holding positive discussions with Chinese officials over the weekend. I'm pleased to say that joining us around the table here in New York is Ambassador Greer himself. Ambassador, good morning, good to see you.

Jamieson Greer (0:26)

Very good to see you as well.

Jonathan Ferro (0:27)

How would you characterize the talks then over the weekend?

Jamieson Greer (0:30)

They were positive. They were constructive, always very professional. We made headway. The focus is on stability between the US and China and we're continuing that.

Jonathan Ferro (0:39)

Let's talk about the focus, stability, the ultimate objective. What's the North Star now for these discussions? When I think back to the first time for the president, it was reciprocity. How would you describe things now? What's the North Star for these discussions?

Jamieson Greer (0:51)

I think it continues to be reciprocity. When you take a step back and look at what do the Americans want from the Chinese, which is always the question, part of this is we want to have balance in our trade with the Chinese. We want to protect our market and our workers from unfair trading practice. And so we have a lot of controls on Chinese imports. We have controls on exports to China and elsewhere. So we're just going to have managed trade with China. That's the focus. But just because it's managed doesn't mean we can't have areas that are positive.

Jonathan Ferro (1:16)

Excess capacity has been an issue for a long time.

As an economist on a program like this, they might come on and they'll explain very clearly why it's in China's interest to get away from this. The Treasury Secretary Scott Besson has articulated this repeatedly really well for several years now. When you're actually having these conversations with Chinese officials, we're not in the room. Can you describe what they're actually like when you're trying to have this conversation?

Jamieson Greer (1:38)

Sure. Well, first of all, remember they're quite scripted when they come. They know what the agenda is going to be. We all know there are really no surprises. And so they're quite scripted about this. I would say that with respect to China, the United States for many years has gone to them and said, you need to change this and change that.

And that's right, they do. At the same time, why would we spend all of our time trying to prescribe things for another country that clearly has a political and economic system that is ingrained and not going to change? So we're focused on outcomes. So we could spend all day talking about excess capacity, which is a huge problem, and I have an investigation going on, or we can just act to protect our economy and find ways to accommodate the Chinese to prevent things from blowing up. So I'm conducting an investigation in my office to get at excess capacity.

At the end of the day, if we detect problems, we'll be able to impose tariffs or take other measures. But if we can find a way with the Chinese, like we're doing now, to find some area where we can trade, maybe in a more liberal way, on an area of goods that's non-sensitive in a balanced way, that's a good outcome.

Annmarie Hordern (2:35)

You must be happy because the trade deficit with China, they're not importing as much as the United States.

Jamieson Greer (2:40)

Yes, I am happy.

Annmarie Hordern (2:41)

But it's going elsewhere, and then it's coming to the United States. There's just a middleman now. How are you addressing that?

Jamieson Greer (2:47)

In some instances, so to your point, our trade deficit with China has gone down by a third. The last time we imported this little from China was 2003 So this is an incredible diversification. Some of it, of course, is going to other countries. It's going in as parts components, but the labor value add is going on in that country. Maybe they do other things.

So there is a diversification. And to the extent there's bonafide transshipment, we have enforcement, right? We have our Customs and Border Protection that does enforcement. Right now, we're developing rules of origin with Mexico, which is a possible transshipment point to make sure that goods go in between the United States and Mexico are truly from the United States and Mexico and not Chinese inputs.

Annmarie Hordern (3:24)

Is that your biggest problem right now when it comes to going after these Chinese goods, the transshipment?