Quick post: there are big economic talks going on in Washington. The usual players, Susan Schwab the U.S. Trade Representative, Carlos Gutierrez, the Commerce Secretary, Treasury’s Henry Paulson …. and China’s 15 diplomats including Vice Premier Wu Yi.

Here’s the story from the washington post .

Something I find interesting: China’s officials are upset that the U.S. has filed trade cases on Intellectual Property, and using other forms of trade remedy including countervailing (anti-subsidy) duties. The complaint, according to the WP is that these things  are better handled through dialogue.

Maybe it’s just me, but I distinctly remember covering SEVERAL rounds of dialogue on all these issues, and certainly remember there being even more rounds since I stopped staring at the stuff every day.

My point is there is a time when talking stops producing results. There have been so many statements, dialogues, agreements to revisit issues, and diplomatic memos to make your head spin.

A few candles have been added to the cake since I first started following these talks.

So is this politics? international shows of strength? an effort to come in strong to Washington, where bravado and strong statements can have as much force as actual agreements?

I think it has a little bit of all of these.