Senior Chinese and US officials on Friday again sent positive signals about their efforts to formalize a partial trade bargain announced last month, with US President Donald Trump saying that he could meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Iowa.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴) spoke by telephone with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, a call both sides described as “constructive.”
However, details remained scarce and the positive statements were almost identical to those made last week, even though Trump announced the partial deal on Oct. 11.
Trump had planned to sign a deal with Xi on the sidelines of the now-canceled APEC summit in Chile this month.
On Friday, Trump told reporters that he was “looking [at] a different couple locations” for a meeting with Xi, adding that it “could even be in Iowa.”
The rural state in the US’ heartland was the first place Xi visited when he traveled to the country in 1985 to study farming technology.
Trump said that negotiations were “moving along” and “our deal’s going along fine with China,” but stressed repeatedly that he did not want to give more details until the agreement was finalized.
The office of the US Trade Representative said in a statement that negotiators had “made progress in a variety of areas and are in the process of resolving outstanding issues.”
In Beijing, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that the two sides discussed “properly addressing their core concerns and reached consensus on principles” and “discussed arrangements for the next consultations.”
Earlier on Friday, US National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow hailed the steps made in the talks.
“The deal is not complete, but we’ve made enormous progress,” Kudlow told reporters.
The discussions were nearly complete on currency, financial services, dealing with removing restrictions on majority foreign ownership of companies in China and opening markets to US agriculture exports, he said.
Other issues like protecting US intellectual property and stopping forced technology transfer would likely wait until “phase two,” Kudlow said.
The upbeat statements reaffirmed Washington’s hopeful message on trade with Beijing after a week in which the two sides exchanged a salvo of confrontational remarks.
Wall Street on Thursday shuddered after Bloomberg reported that Chinese officials were skeptical of reaching a long-term trade deal with Washington.
Trump three weeks ago hailed a “very substantial phase one” accord with Beijing, which he said would cover key areas and include a commitment for a massive increase in US farm exports.
After a lengthy boycott, China has resumed some purchases of US agricultural goods, but demand might not support the huge increases Trump expects.
Earlier in the week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a speech calling China “truly hostile” to the US, while Beijing accused Washington of “viciously attacking” China.
Meanwhile, in a separate disagreement dating from long before the Trump administration, the WTO on Thursday authorized China to slap tariffs on US$3.6 billion of imports from the US in a dispute over US anti-dumping practices.
The two sides have put tariffs on virtually all of their US$500 billion in annual two-way goods trade, but last month signaled a truce as Trump held off on some duty rate increases.
The trade war is slowing global growth, economists have said, and data showed that it is cutting into the US manufacturing sector and chilling business investment.
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