Despite Trump's hopes of a second phase of trade talks with China, officials and experts say this is highly unlikely.

Last month, during a press conference with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House, US President Donald Trump said he wanted to quickly go into the second negotiation phase as soon as the first phase of the trade deal was completed. between the two countries.

The second phase will focus on intellectual property, which is said to be the cause of Trump's trade war with China. Washington has repeatedly accused Beijing of stealing its intellectual property by forcing US companies to transfer technology in exchange for access to markets, but Beijing denied it.

However, the first phase agreement has so far not been signed and faces a series of barriers. Trump emphasized only accepting the deal to make him "satisfied", and China seemed worried when the US President did not withdraw the tax, something they thought was agreed in principle. A Reuters source on November 20 revealed the signing could be carried forward to next year, due to disagreements over Beijing's request to retract its taxes on a wider scale.

In addition, sources from Beijing officials said they had no intention of sitting at the negotiating table to discuss the second phase deal before the US presidential election in November 2020, partly because they wanted to wait. see if Trump is re-elected or not.

"Trump is the one who wants to sign the deals, not us. We can wait," an unnamed Chinese official said. California State Representative Jim Costa, a member of two important agriculture committees, said last week that "real" sources from China had told him the same thing.

According to an unnamed official in the Trump administration, the White House's current priority is to sign a first-phase deal, to ensure China will buy large quantities of U.S. agricultural products. The result could be praised by Trump as an important victory in his re-election campaigns to appease voters, amid a backdrop of businesses and American farmers reeling from the prolonged trade war. Last 18 months.

The official added that after the two sides reached a first-phase deal, Trump might become less interested in China due to focusing on domestic issues. Other disputes with China such as intellectual property, the South China Sea and human rights are likely to be handed over to senior aides.

The White House initially set ambitious plans to restructure US-China relations, including resolving an investigation in 2018, when the U.S. Trade Representative Office concluded that China had activities. "unfair, unreasonable and distorting markets", such as economic espionage, cyberattacks, forced technology transfers and dumping of goods with the help of the government.

The bipartisan party teamed up with Trump extensively to hold China accountable. However, these concerns are not part of the first phase agreement, as the two sides agreed on financial services, currencies, tariffs, agricultural products and some intellectual property commitments. wisdom.

"It is all easy," said Senator Costa, referring to the first phase agreement, adding that the more difficult issues are "espionage, copyright, privacy and security."

Washington also fell into a "dilemma" when Trump's economic advisory group was divided. Some urged the President to quickly accept the first phase deal to placate markets and business circles, while the rest want him to push for a more comprehensive deal. Meanwhile, Chinese officials are still trying to find ways to avoid falling under the "lower projection" and serve US interests.

According to former US official Matthew Goodman, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the first-phase trade deal will be reached, as Chinese and US leaders clearly want to finalize it soon. It is intended to stabilize the market and "cool off" concerns over domestic policy, although Beijing is currently not ready to comply with the terms.

However, Goodman said that the two sides can hardly reach any other agreement before the US presidential election next year, stemming from the important reason that Washington lacks a close cooperation strategy with other countries to deal with. Beijing. Josh Kallmer, a former US Trade Representative, also agreed that the second phase of negotiations next year is "hard to imagine".

Experts and former U.S. officials need to strengthen cooperation with allies to pressure China, forcing it to make necessary structural changes, including ending the situation. forcing technology transfer and better intellectual property protection.

Europe and other US allies are hesitant to participate in the campaign to pressure China to appear to be frustrated with the Trump administration's lone action, adding to their dependence. into Chinese investment.

"We need an international coalition to start the second phase of trade negotiations," said Kellie Meiman Hock, an expert at McLarty Associates, a trade advisory group in Washington.