WASHINGTON, March 8, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump said
Thursday negotiations to resolve his eight-month trade war with China were
making progress, expressing fresh optimism about resolving the confrontation
between the world’s largest economies.
Trump told reporters at the White House that the talks were “moving along
pretty well.”
Chinese and American officials have alternated between expressing optimism
that a deal is at hand and also warning that much remains to be done to
resolve the trade war, which has rattled markets and dented manufacturing
sectors on both sides of the Pacific.
The two nations have slapped painful tariffs on more than $360 billion in
two-way trade since July, but citing progress in the negotiations, Trump last
month said he was suspending plains to raise duty rates on $200 billion in
Chinese goods.
American officials have demanded far-reaching reforms to Chinese
industrial policy which they say involves the theft of American technology
and unacceptable state intervention in markets.
Analysts say that as China faces a slowing economy, Beijing will be eager
to cut a deal and likely will offer deep concessions.
Citing trade uncertainty, among other causes, European Central Bank chief
Mario Draghi on Thursday announced renewed economic stimulus to boost growth
on the Continent.
The US Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the trade deficit in
goods with China hit $419.2 billion last year, the highest level ever
recorded, despite Trump’s aggressive efforts tariffs on Chinese imports.