The United States likely will face stiffer headwinds in resolving trade issues with China as the Asian power enters a period of leadership change, a US trade expert said Friday. “We’re probably going to be facing a period of stasis,” said Bill Reinsch, head of the National Foreign Trade Council. “The Chinese are heading into that fairly lengthy period where they change their leadership and parcel out new positions.” Reinsch said that seven of the nine Politburo standing committee members will be replaced at the Communist Party’s 18th Congress in October 2012. In the meantime, much of China’s focus will be drawn internally amid jockeying and posturing to gain power. “That’s not a time when governments take bold initiatives in any direction. It’s a time when rhetoric escalates and you’ve got more loose cannons,” the president of the Washington-based business group said. “I don’t look for dramatic change.”
