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[ad_1] BEIJING — Senior Chinese and American officials concluded two days of negotiations late Friday afternoon with no deal and no date set for further talks, as the United States stepped up its demands for Chinese concessions to avert a potential trade war. The American negotiating team, which included Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the United States trade representative, Robert E. Lighthizer, headed for the airport after the talks and did not release a statement. But a list of demands that the group brought into the meeting called for reducing the United States’ trade gap with China by $200 billion over the next two years and a halt on Chinese subsidies for advanced manufacturing sectors. The demands, which spread on Chinese social media and were confirmed by a person close to the negotiations, suggest that both sides have hardened their positions this week despite the two days of talks. Senior Chinese officials and their advisers sent a deliberate message to the West during ...

[ad_1] Both countries have played down the possibility that the negotiations will resolve the simmering tensions between them. Still, Chinese officials’ lack of experience in international trade law could make it even harder for the two sides to find common ground before the talks end on Friday. “We’re in a situation where the ministry of commerce doesn’t have all the people in place that it wants to have,” said James Zimmerman, a former four-time chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, citing the Chinese agency that traditionally handles trade matters. “I really think they are unprepared for the negotiation that is taking place.” Chinese officials dispute that characterization, saying the reorganization will not hurt a stance that they describe as tough but of flexible. “I don’t think it is a problem, or that this process of organizational reform will affect the ability to negotiate,” Li Gang, the vice president of the Chinese commerce ministry’s research and ...

[ad_1] The delegation includes officials like Mr. Navarro and Robert Lighthizer, the United States trade representative, both of whom embrace a more combative approach to dealing with China than other advisers on the trip. Mr. Navarro and Mr. Lighthizer have been focused on China’s unfair trade practices for decades, and insist the country must make more dramatic changes to even the playing field for American companies. They also appear willing to follow through with the tariffs Mr. Trump has threatened , despite the pain it would inflict on many American businesses and workers, if they view it as necessary to increase their leverage with the Chinese. Other members of the delegation, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Larry Kudlow, who heads the National Economic Council, appear more inclined to strike deals with the Chinese that would accomplish the president’s goal of reducing the gap between what America imports from China and what it sells to the country and he...