The US and China have started to outline commitments in principle on the stickiest issues in their trade dispute, marking the most significant progress yet toward ending a seven-month spat, sources familiar with the negotiations said.
As officials hold high-level talks yesterday and today in Washington, they remain far apart on demands made by US President Donald Trump’s administration for structural changes to China’s economy.
However, the broad outline of what could make up a deal is beginning to emerge from the talks, the sources said, as the two sides push for an agreement by Friday next week — the end of a 90-day truce that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) agreed to when they met in Argentina last year.
Photo: AFP
Negotiators are drawing up six memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on structural issues: forced technology transfer and cybertheft, intellectual property rights, services, currency, agriculture and non-tariff barriers to trade, two sources said.
At meetings between US and Chinese officials last week in Beijing, the two sides traded texts and worked on outlining obligations on paper, one of the sources said.
The process has become a real trade negotiation, so much so that at the end of the week the participants considered staying in Beijing to keep working, but instead agreed to take a few days off and reconvene in Washington, they added.
The sources requested anonymity to speak candidly about the talks.
Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng (高峰) yesterday declined to comment on the MOUs.
The MOUs cover the most complex issues affecting the trading relationship between the two countries and are meant, from the US perspective, to end the practices that led Trump to start levying duties on Chinese imports in the first place.
One source cautioned that the talks could still end in failure, but the work on the MOUs was a significant step in getting China to sign up to both broad principles and specific commitments on key issues, he said.
Several Chinese government sources said that the two countries have basically reached a consensus on alleviating the trade imbalances, but there were still some differences on each other’s “core demands” that they were seeking to narrow.
“It can be said that we are now in the sprint phase, and both negotiating teams are working toward the goal of reaching an agreement within the deadline, but some problems are still quite complicated to resolve,” one Chinese official said.
On currency, US officials have warned China against devaluing its yuan to gain a competitive advantage after the Chinese currency weakened significantly against the US dollar last year, partly counteracting Trump’s tariffs.
The two sides were discussing an enforcement mechanism for the deal, the source said.
The parties also were looking at a 10-item list of ways that China could reduce its trade surplus with the US, including by buying agricultural produce, energy and goods such as semiconductors, two other sources said.
Lower-level officials held a round of talks in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were to be joined yesterday by the top-level negotiators, led by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴).
CELEBRATION: The PRC turned 75 on Oct. 1, but the Republic of China is older. The PRC could never be the homeland of the people of the ROC, Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not be the “motherland” of the people of the Republic of China (ROC), President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks in a speech at a Double Ten National Day gala in Taipei, which is part of National Day celebrations that are to culminate in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on Thursday night next week. Lai wished the country a happy birthday and called on attendees to enjoy the performances and activities while keeping in mind that the ROC is a sovereign and independent nation. He appealed for everyone to always love their
‘EXTREME PRESSURE’: Beijing’s goal is to ‘force Taiwan to make mistakes,’ Admiral Tang Hua said, adding that mishaps could serve as ‘excuses’ for launching a blockade China’s authoritarian expansionism threatens not only Taiwan, but the rules-based international order, the navy said yesterday, after its top commander said in an interview that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could blockade the nation at will. The object of Beijing’s expansionist activities is not limited to Taiwan and its use of pressure is not confined to specific political groups or people, the navy said in a statement. China utilizes a mixture of cognitive warfare and “gray zone” military activities to pressure Taiwan, the navy said, adding that PLA sea and air forces are compressing the nation’s defensive depth. The navy continues to
MAKING PROGRESS: Officials and industry leaders who participated in a defense forum last month agreed that Taiwan has the capabilities to work with the US, the report said Taiwan’s high-tech defense industry is to enhance collaboration with the US to produce weapons needed for self-defense, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report to the Legislative Yuan. Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞) discussed building regional and global industry alliances with US partners at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Philadelphia held from Sept. 22 to Tuesday last week, the ministry said in the declassified portion of the report. The visit contributed to maintaining bilateral ties, facilitated Taiwan’s efforts to acquire weapons and equipment, and strengthened the resilience of the two nation’s defense industries, it said. Taiwan-US ties
CONCERNS: Allowing the government, political parties or the military to own up to 10 percent of a large media firm is a risk Taiwan cannot afford to take, a lawyer said A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator has proposed amendments to allow the government, political parties and the military to indirectly invest in broadcast media, prompting concerns of potential political interference. Under Article 1 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the government and political parties — as well as foundations established with their endowments, and those commissioned by them — cannot directly or indirectly invest in satellite broadcasting businesses. A similar regulation is in the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法). “The purpose of banning the government, political parties and the military from investing in the media is to prevent them from interfering
RSS