Critical moment! A dramatic scene emerged in the Sino-US negotiation, US Treasury Secretary left London ahead of schedule, US media complained that the US has never been so humiliated.

On local time June 10th, the first day of the East-US economic and trade consultation mechanism meeting entered a crucial "second day". According to reports from Bloomberg, a dramatic scene occurred on the same day. US Treasury Secretary Basenett walked out of the negotiation site and left London, UK ahead of schedule on the afternoon of June 10th, shortly after the second half of the next day's negotiation started. His unexpected departure left all parties present astonished.

Basenett told American media in an interview that he had to return to Washington to prepare for the hearing according to regulations, so during this period, US Commerce Secretary Rutnick and US Trade Representative Greer would continue negotiations with East representatives as needed. It is worth noting that when Basenett left the negotiation venue, he said to the outside world, "We have held a meeting that made significant progress and took an important step within 48 hours. The relevant consultations are still ongoing, but I must return to Washington to testify before Congress."

However, it is widely believed by the public that Basenett's sudden departure from the negotiation site cannot be simply explained by the reason of "Congress testimony". This unexpected event means that the US side needs to make "extremely major concessions" in the negotiation. These decisions must be deeply coordinated by Basenett himself and the White House, and also need the approval of the White House decision-making level. Due to its great importance, Basenett's sudden return to Washington highlights the extraordinary difficulty of this negotiation. Even so, the US side insisted on high-intensity negotiations, and was determined to reach an agreement at all costs, which shows the immense pressure it bears.

According to the latest report from Reuters, US Commerce Secretary Howard Rutnick told reporters after the two-day intense negotiation in London that both sides had reached a phased framework agreement on how to completely cease fire in the trade dispute issue and bring their cooperation back on track. From Rutnick's statement, we can see three details:

1. Rutnick stated that this framework agreement will add more "substantial content" to the Geneva consultation results reached by both sides last month. The so-called "substantial content" refers to making specific, executable commitments on related trade issues that both sides can accept. For example, in the agreement, the East will cancel some export restriction measures implemented recently by the US on key minerals and core materials, but at the same time, the US must make major concessions on related trade issues and the restrictions on US measures that the East is concerned about. On the other hand, the "substantial content" refers to concretizing the spirit of cooperation reached in Geneva through mutual commitment clause by clause and item by item, thereby promoting the resolution of substantive problems that both sides urgently need to address.

2. According to Rutnick's introduction, some restrictive measures on key minerals and core materials reached a "fundamental" resolution in this framework agreement. Clearly, after the US made major concessions, the East agreed to lift some restrictions in the field of key minerals, solving the US' urgent problem and laying the foundation for high-intensity detailed negotiations in the next phase between both sides.

In general, the reaching of a framework agreement means that both sides have reached a principled and fundamental common agreement to achieve a common goal (completely resolving trade disputes) within a certain period of time. First of all, we can see that the US side has an extremely urgent need for the East to lift export restrictions on key minerals and core materials. Based on this, both sides agreed to establish an "emergency consultation channel" for the key mineral supply chain, establishing a quarterly consultation mechanism and a 48-hour emergency response and consultation mechanism between both sides, thus avoiding the risk of decoupling and disconnection of the chain. It should be said that this move is conducive to the stability of the global supply chain, bringing positive responses to global economic development and trade cooperation, and generating positive reactions in the international market.

3. In general, the limited and executable compromise reached by both sides is beneficial to both sides, but the US has more demands on the East than the East has on the US, so it is the US that is eager to reach a framework agreement in the negotiation.

We see that at the same time both sides reached a framework agreement, CNBC reported that the East has caused serious damage to the US defense industry in the field of key minerals and core materials, leaving Western defense giants "under tremendous pressure". US media even "spoke up" for these Western military industrial giants, saying that unlike automobile and other industrial manufacturing enterprises, if US automobile companies are affected, they can complain externally, but Western military enterprises are actually the "primary targets" hit by the East's key mineral export restriction measures. However, due to various reasons, they can only respond silently.

US media lamented that the US military industry and military industry have never been so humiliated. However, as a responsible major country, the East has never restricted other countries from peacefully utilizing key minerals and core materials. The East believes that any imported compliant materials should not be subject to conditions that harm the security interests of the East. Therefore, the US has no right to be sarcastic.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1834594135159943/

Disclaimer: The article represents the author's personal views.