ZCZC
BCN-19
CHINA-US-TRADE
China’s top trade negotiator to visit US Jan 30-31
BEIJING, Jan 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – China’s top trade negotiator will travel
to the United States to resume talks later this month ahead of a March
deadline to avoid bruising tariff hikes, the commerce ministry said Thursday.
Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington on January 30-31 for the
negotiations, the ministry said, following up on talks by lower-level
officials in Beijing earlier this month.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to a three-
month trade war truce in December, suspending US plans to increase tariffs on
billions of dollars in Chinese goods to give negotiators space to find a
solution.
Liu and US officials will “hold negotiations on economic and trade issues
and work together to push forward and implement the consensus” reached by Xi
and Trump, ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters.
China’s senior negotiator will travel at the invitation of US Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Gao
said.
Without a resolution, punitive US duty rates on $200 billion in Chinese
goods are due to rise to 25 percent from 10 percent on March 2.
BSS/AFP/HR/1330