No new high-level trade talks have been scheduled between the US and China, but the two sides remain in touch about implementing a “phase one” deal, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump earlier told reporters during a visit to Yuma, Arizona, that he had postponed a review of the trade agreement signed with China in January scheduled for Saturday last week because of his frustration over Beijing’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The phase one deal had called for discussions on implementation of the agreement every six months.
Photo: AFP
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴) was supposed to hold a video conference call with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, but it was postponed indefinitely.
“I postponed talks with China. You know why? I don’t want to deal with them now,” Trump said during a briefing on construction of a border wall with Mexico. “What China did to the world was not even thinkable. They could have stopped [the virus].”
Meadows said the review, mandated as part of the trade agreement with China, had not been rescheduled, but Lighthizer remained in regular contact with his counterparts in China about fulfilling its commitments.
“There are no rescheduled talks ... at this point,” Meadows said. “Ambassador Lighthizer continues to have discussions with his Chinese counterparts involving purchases and fulfilling their agreements.”
Trump struck a non-committal tone when asked if he would pull out of the trade deal with China, saying: “We’ll see what happens.”
During visits to Arizona and Iowa on Tuesday, Trump expressed frustration about China’s handling of the health crisis and its failure to contain the disease, but he also lauded record purchases by Beijing of US farm products.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) yesterday deferred comment to the “competent department” when asked about Trump’s remarks.
Zhao said that information on high-level talks would be released “in due course.”
China’s imports of US farm and manufactured goods, energy and services are well behind the pace needed to meet a first-year target increase of US$77 billion over 2017 purchases, but its purchases have increased as China’s economy recovers from a COVID-19 lockdown earlier this year.
On Friday last week, the US Department of Agriculture reported the sale of 126,000 tonnes of soybeans to China, marking the eighth consecutive day of large sales to Chinese buyers. Crude oil sales have also increased.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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