US and Chinese officials extended trade dispute talks into a third day yesterday, with a member of the US delegation saying negotiations “went just fine.”
The US officials have been in Beijing since Monday for the first sit-down talks since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Dec. 1 agreed to a three-month truce on a tit-for-tat trade spat.
Asian markets rose on increasing optimism that the two sides would be able to hammer out a deal ahead of a March deadline and avert further import tariff hikes.
A member of the US delegation, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney, told reporters that the team would return to the US later yesterday, and talks were “wrapping up now.”
“I think they went just fine,” McKinney said as he left the hotel with his luggage, adding that the trip “has been a good one for us.”
Trump boasted on Twitter on Tuesday that discussions in China were “going very well!”
The US delegation, led by US Deputy Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish, had been scheduled to end its visit on Tuesday.
Washington has been clamoring for an end to the alleged forced transfer — and even theft — of US technology, as well as steep government subsidies for Chinese companies.
The Trump administration also wants Beijing to buy more US goods to narrow a yawning trade gap and allow foreign players better access to the Chinese market.
Neither Chinese nor US officials have given any details about the discussions.
US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Monday said in a CNBC interview that there was a “very good chance” of reaching an agreement.
China’s economy was more vulnerable to the fallout from the trade dispute, he said, noting that Beijing exports more goods to the US than the other way around.
“I think a deal is very possible and I’ve heard some very encouraging words,” Apple Inc chief executive Tim Cook told CNBC.
“I don’t speak for them obviously,” Cook said in reference to the Trump administration. “I do talk with them, and I give them my ideas and thoughts.”
The US smartphone maker has felt the pinch of the bruising trade spat, and warned that last year’s revenues would miss its forecast — in large part due to a slump in iPhone sales in China.
The temporary trade dispute ceasefire came after the two sides imposed import duties on more than US$300 billion of each other’s goods.
Without a resolution, punitive US duty rates on US$200 billion of Chinese goods are due to rise to 25 percent from 10 percent on March 2.
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