US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin was to lead trade talks with China yesterday and today as the countries try to head off a trade war.
“These meetings are a continuation of the talks held in Beijing two weeks ago and will focus on rebalancing the United States-China bilateral economic relationship,” the White House said in a statement.
The US has threatened to impose 25 percent punitive duties on up to US$150 billion of Chinese goods, while Beijing has targeted US$50 billion of US exports.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴) led the trade delegation from Beijing. US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer were also to participate.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce hoped the two sides could resolve the trade frictions during the talks.
“But of course we’ve prepared a response for various possibilities,” ministry spokesman Gao Feng (高峰) said at a news conference yesterday.
The talks, part of a busy week of trade negotiations and tight deadlines in Washington, have become enmeshed in political intrigue after White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro, who is considered a hardliner on China, was left out.
Navarro, who was seen as having a more dominant role following the departure of White House economic advisor Gary Cohn over trade issues, was left off the list, although the statement read: “Additional senior Administration Officials will also participate.”
Media reported that Navarro sparred with Mnuchin over his handling of the China talks and was barred from attending the meetings this week.
Earlier on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump denied caving to China over US sanctions on telecommunications equipment maker ZTE Corp (中興通訊).
The comments followed Trump’s surprise announcement on Sunday that the administration was exploring ways to soften the blow from a ban on exporting crucial US technology to the company, which Washington has said violated sanctions and misled US officials.
“Nothing has happened with ZTE, except as it pertains to the larger trade deal,” Trump said on Twitter. “China has seen our demands. There has been no folding as the media would love people to believe. The meetings haven’t even started yet!”
Beijing said it had taken note of the positive words in Washington on lessening sanctions on ZTE.
“We hope the related departments quickly take real action,” Gao said, while relaying some of China’s other demands, such as fair and equitable treatment for Chinese products and investment. “We hope the US gets rid of economic and trade restrictions it should not have.”
Ross has said twice in the past week that the two sides have exchanged detailed lists of demands.
Trump’s remarks followed a report by Agence France-Presse last week that a Chinese state enterprise was pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into an Indonesian real-estate development linked to Trump’s business empire, raising suspicion about the possibility of a quid-pro-quo deal on ZTE.
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