China has offered to buy US$70 billion worth of US goods if Washington drops plans to impose tariffs in return, an official in US President Donald Trump’s administration said on Wednesday, confirming an earlier report.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴) made the offer during weekend trade talks in Beijing with a US delegation, which was led by US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The new purchases would include soybeans, natural gas, crude oil and coal.
No definitive agreement had been reached and no further information was available, the US Department of Commerce said.
During a regular news briefing in Beijing yesterday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that The two sides had discussed detailed proposals during the trade negotiations.
“China and the US carried out in-depth and concrete discussions in some specific areas of trade cooperation, especially agricultural products and energy,” spokesman Gao Feng (高峰) said, when he was asked about the US$70 billion figure.
“China is willing to expand imports from the US under the precondition of both sides walking towards each other,” Gao said.
US exports to China last year hit US$130.4 billion, the US department said.
A US$70 billion package of purchases would amount to a 53.8 percent increase.
For goods alone, the US trade deficit with China hit a record US$375 billion last year and the White House has demanded Beijing cut the imbalance by US$200 billion.
Liu personally explained to Ross the offer would be void in the event that Washington imposed additional tariffs, the Wall Street Journal said.
Separately, the US and China have not yet reached a deal on Chinese telecoms giant ZTE Corp (中興通訊) that would lift crippling sanctions against the company, US National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said on Wednesday.
“No decision has been reached by both sides as of now,” Kudlow said.
US media reported late last month that the commerce department had brokered a deal under which ZTE would pay a substantial fine, hire US compliance officers to be placed at the firm and make changes to its management.
Trump appeared to confirm that a deal had been reached in a tweet on May 25, but subsequent broader US trade talks in Beijing ended inconclusively with no mention of the ZTE matter.
US Democrats and some Republicans have vehemently opposed any deal on ZTE, which is deemed a cybersecurity risk, but Trump cited the potential loss of US jobs if ZTE is forced out of business.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last