Top representatives from the US and China are arranging to resume talks next week to try to resolve a year-long trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies, officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration said on Wednesday.
“Those talks will continue in earnest this coming week,” US National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters in a briefing.
An official from the Office of the US Trade Representative said later that the two sides were in the process of scheduling a principal-level telephone call with Chinese officials for next week.
The principal negotiators on the US side are US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, while Beijing’s top negotiator is Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴).
The two sides have already been in communication by phone since the weekend, when Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) agreed to relaunch talks that had stalled in May after US officials accused China of pulling back from commitments made in the text of an agreement that negotiators had said was nearly finished.
Kudlow was unclear about the timeline for relaunching face-to-face talks, saying that these would begin “soon” and that an announcement would be forthcoming.
“I don’t know precisely when. They’re on the phone. They’re going to be on the phone this coming week and they’ll be scheduling face-to-face meetings,” Kudlow said.
Both countries have levied tariffs on the other, but Trump made two major concessions at the meeting with Xi to get talks started again: He agreed not to put tariffs on about US$300 billion in additional Chinese imports and to loosen restrictions on Chinese technology company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (華為).
The US has 25 percent tariffs on US$250 billion of Chinese goods ranging from semiconductors to furniture.
“We’ve been accommodative. We will not lift tariffs during the talks,” Kudlow said.
“We are hoping that China will toe its end of it by purchasing a good many of American imports,” he said.
However, existing US tariffs would have to be removed if there is to be a trade deal between Beijing and Washington, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.
Trade teams from both countries are in contact, ministry spokesman Gao Feng (高峰) told a regular media briefing.
China welcomes the US’ decision not to impose new tariffs on its goods, Gao said when asked how long the trade truce could last.
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