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US-China trade talks to resume in Washington
WASHINGTON, Feb 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US-China trade talks aimed at ending a
damaging tariff war will resume from Tuesday in Washington, the White House
said.
The last set of talks ended Friday in Beijing with no deal, though US
President Donald Trump said discussions were going “extremely well” and
suggested he could extend a March 1 truce deadline for an agreement to be
reached.
The next round of negotiations will commence with deputy-level meetings
before moving on to principal-level talks on Thursday, said a White House
statement issued Monday.
For the US, the talks will be led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer
and include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur
Ross, economic policy advisor Larry Kudlow, and trade advisor Peter Navarro.
China’s commerce ministry meanwhile announced it would be represented by
Vice Premier Liu He, Beijing’s top trade negotiator and key aide to President
Xi Jinping, who agreed to a trade war truce with Trump at a meeting in Buenos
Aires in December.
“We hope China and the US will both work hard together to implement the
important consensus reached by our two heads of state in Argentina, get down
to work, and walk together in the same direction towards a mutually
acceptable and mutually beneficial agreement,” foreign ministry spokesman
Geng Shuang told reporters Tuesday.
On Friday, Trump reiterated he might be willing to hold off on increasing
tariffs to 25 percent from the current 10 percent on March 1 on $200 billion
in Chinese goods if Washington and Beijing are close to finalizing an
agreement to deal with US complaints about unfair trade and theft of American
technology.
American officials accuse Beijing of seeking global industrial predominance
through an array of unfair trade practices, including the alleged theft of
American intellectual property and massive state intervention in commodities
markets.
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Since the December detente, China has resumed purchases of some US soybeans
and dangled massive buying of American commodities to get US trade
negotiators closer to a deal.
The talks are aimed at “achieving needed structural changes in China that
affect trade between the United States and China,” Monday’s statement said.
“The two sides will also discuss China’s pledge to purchase a substantial
amount of goods and services from the United States.”
Beijing and Washington have imposed duties on more than $360 billion in
two-way trade, which are weighing on their manufacturing sectors and have
shaken global financial markets.
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