Former U.S. ambassador to China: U.S. tariff theory 'basically wrong'

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Chinese Vice Premier Liu He traveled to Washington on Monday for another round of high-level talks. The vice premier met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week in Beijing, where progress was said to have been made.

The trade deficit right now is much bigger than it used to be, even though the tariff has been exercised among so many economies that the U.S. does business with. What does that prove? CGTN correspondent Tian Wei caught up with Max Baucus, the former U.S. ambassador to China.

"[The theory of U.S. tariffs] is basically wrong. There is no question about that. But still, Americans would like to see China stick to its word," said Baucus.

The newly approved Foreign Investment Law is now a key topic. It aims to give foreign investment a level playing field with domestic companies and addresses concerns from the U.S. and others over intellectual property. China's new foreign investment law takes effect January 1, 2020.

Baucus expressed lots of confidence in the newly approved Foreign Investment Law. "This time maybe something is going to happen. This time maybe under the new Foreign Investment Law, there will be more foreign investment in China. I sense it may happen now."

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