米占进化史 小’s Reviews > No Trade Is Free: Changing Course, Taking on China, and Helping America's Workers > Status Update

Our solution to this problem was the sunset. The original idea was that the new agreement would have a fixed term of four years, at which point it would expire

We also added a separate requirement that 70 percent of steel and aluminum purchases had to be sourced in North America.

The Chinese presumably would find a way to retaliate, but to the extent that they do, that would also contribute to the strategic decoupling.

Chapter 10: I’m impressed always how that I found my living problems in the books I happen go read, where I can always borrow some ideas and light.
How to handle with ppl with no commitment to what they say:
While the meeting was encouraging, it did not change the fundamental Chinese tactics of reneging on commitments, rewriting the history of the talks, and raising unrelated issues that only muddied the waters.

Painstaking work through details may be the way to get initial commitments, but would they be worth anything? What we’d need to find was a way to make those commitments enforceable. As the tariffs went into effect, it was time to have another serious meeting, one where the president would step in personally.

“If you want me on the plane when it lands, you better put me on it when it takes off.”

This backtracking necessitated that I go through each of the MOUs with the vice premier provision by provision to nail down the language. I had to explain the basis and justification for each of the provisions and the language used. It was again clear what was happening. The vice premier would act in good faith in our talks, but when word got back to other power sources in Beijing, there would be blowback.

We had to let them know that their trademark tactics—“tapping” us along, reneging on commitments, making vague and unenforceable promises—were no longer going to cut it.

The Chinese apparently believed that a good offsense is the best defence

They had a $400 billion surplus with us but claimed they had a list of barriers or unfair practices to complain about. In some communities, that would be called chutzpah.