More US Trade Agreements Will 'Encourage' China to Reach a Deal, Senator Says

The U.S. needs to increase “engagement” with China to reach a trade deal, said Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., adding that the U.S. has stronger, not weaker, trade relationships with its allies since President Donald Trump became president.

Speaking during a Dec. 4 Center for Strategic and International Studies event, Perdue also said that more U.S. trade deals will strengthen the U.S.'s position in negotiations with China and will make China agree to a deal. “Now that we've got a free trade agreement with South Korea and Japan, and if we get USMCA done very quickly, then this has a huge impact on the relationship we’re trying to develop with China,” he said. He said those agreements “could not be more important” because they will “encourage China” to strike a deal.

Perdue, a former member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the “number one thing” the U.S. needs to do is to engage more with China, arguing against a potential decoupling. “If you disengage, we won’t have any influence,” he said. “I think disengaging would be a tremendous mistake.”

Trump has been right to demand better trade deals with key U.S. allies, including the European Union and France, Perdue said. He said the U.S. has a “stronger relationship” with both Japan (see 1910070074) and South Korea (see 1809240040) after reaching new and revised trade deals, respectively. “We have disagreements because we now are finally standing up to these allies and saying, ‘hey, what about our interests?’ We’ve taken care of their interests for 70 years,” he said. “It’s about time that we talked about a level playing field with some of our strong allies.”

Perdue declined to say what kind of impact the recently passed Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (see 1911290012) might have on U.S.-China trade talks, calling the broader Hong Kong issue “the question of our time.” He said Chinese officials are “really struggling” with maintaining control of Hong Kong. “[President] Xi Jinping has demonstrated that he is very concerned about keeping control of the population inside China as it develops,” Perdue said. “Hong Kong is going to have a dramatic influence on that.”