China Weighs Jumping Into US Trade Talks—Will Crypto Get a Seat at the Table?
Beijing’s ’evaluation’ of trade talks smells like strategic delay tactics—classic geopolitical poker. Meanwhile, Wall Street still bets on a deal while Main Street gets volatility whiplash.
Pro tip: When superpowers ’evaluate,’ markets tremble. And yes, that includes Bitcoin’s fragile correlation with ’risk assets’—until the next tweetstorm, anyway.
Political moves in Washington could complicate the path forward
On Thursday, Trump reshuffled top national‑security posts, expanding Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s duties. Rubio, who became the first US cabinet member sanctioned by Beijing, will act as interim national security adviser while keeping his State Department portfolio. Michael Waltz, the outgoing adviser, will be nominated as US ambassador to the United Nations.
Holding both jobs will give Rubio a louder voice on matters that Beijing follows closely, including Taiwan, which China regards as its own territory. The secretary of state has pledged in the past to counter what he calls China’s “destabilizing actions” in the South China Sea.
In an interview broadcast Thursday night on Fox News with host Sean Hannity, Rubio said Chinese officials are looking for a “short‑term accommodation” and that the US duties are “taking a huge toll” on China’s economy. “The Chinese are reaching out,” Rubio told Hannity. “They want to meet, they want to talk.”
The White House, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Departments of Treasury and Commerce did not answer requests for comment on Friday.
Economic pressure inside China is mounting. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index released this week showed factory activity sinking into its deepest contraction since December 2023. New export orders fell to the lowest level since December 2022 and recorded their steepest one‑month drop since April 2022, when Shanghai shut down to control a pandemic outbreak.
Even while hinting at openness, the Commerce Ministry framed its view as unchanged. As a condition for any talks, the ministry said Washington must first “correct its wrong practices” by lifting the unilateral tariffs. “If we fight, we will fight to the end; if we talk, the door is open,” the statement said.
It said, “What China wants to emphasize is that in any possible dialogue or talks, if the United States does not correct its wrong unilateral tariff measures, it means that the United States has no sincerity at all and will further damage the mutual trust between the two sides.”
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