The flags were lowered at the US consulate in Chengdu this Monday, after being ordered by the Chinese government to close in retaliation for Washington's closure of China's Houston consulate last week. The closure of the US consulate – America's only post in western China – was described by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin as a "legitimate and necessary response" to Washington's actions. In a recent op-ed, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai penned disappointment over the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, citing that "China's U.S. policy remains unchanged." Even so, relations seem unlikely to improve anytime soon; on Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that "the tide is turning" internationally against China, in a Senate hearing that saw the Secretary admit difficulties in forming international alliances against China due to the nation's economic influence. Read more in "Parsing the Trump Administration's Broadside Against China", from David Shambaugh, Gaston Sigur Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science & International Affairs at George Washington University.
Questions over whether China would meet its obligations under Phase One of the trade deal between the new countries were also raised this week. Under the terms of the agreement, China promised to purchase $170bn in US agricultural produce, manufactured goods and energy products like coal in 2020; to the end of June, China had only purchased less than a quarter of that target, with soybean and pork imports decreasing compared to the months before. For his part, President Trump said that "the trade deal means less to me now than when I made it," blaming China's coronavirus response for a weak American economy in the second quarter of 2020. China has maintained that "it will implement the agreement," according to a July 16th press conference.