By Isaac Cohen*
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross proudly announced last week the achievement of a 10 point trade expansion agreement between China and the United States. Briefly, China will terminate the ban on meat imports of US beef and it will allow access to the Chinese market to MasterCard and Visa. In return, the US will allow imports of Chinese cooked chicken and will sell natural gas to China. The agreement sent a positive signal on future trade negotiations, about to take off since the US Senate on the same day, 82 to 14, confirmed Robert Lighthizer as US Trade Representative.
By contrast, last Sunday, China’s President Xi Jingping inaugurated a two day meeting in Beijing, attended by 29 heads of state and government and other officials, including from the United States. The meeting was held to promote the reconstruction of the ancient Silk Road, linking Asia, Europe and Africa. Launched three years ago, the initiative is now called “One Belt, One Road,” it consists of the construction of a network, of ports, power plants, bullet trains, highways, pipelines, airports and industrial parks, to link more than 64 countries. In the last three years, the Chinese government has already spent US $50 billion in infrastructure projects in neighboring countries and it pledged, at the meeting, over $100 billion in financing and technical cooperation for new projects.
*International analyst and consultant. Commentator on economic and financial issues for CNN en Español TV and radio, UNIVISION, TELEMUNDO and other media. Former Director, UNECLAC Washington
