U.S., China preparing ground for trade accord ahead of talks
BEIJING/ WASHINGTON The United States on Thursday welcomed China’s promise to buy agricultural goods while maintaining the threat of U.S. tariff hikes as the world’s two largest economies sought to prepare the ground for upcoming in-person talks.
Lower-level U.S. and Chinese officials are expected to meet within days in Washington ahead of talks between top trade negotiators in early October aimed at easing a trade war that has rattled financial markets and fuelled fears of a looming global recession.
Global stocks rose on Thursday after both sides made concessions ahead of the talks, with U.S. President Donald Trump delaying an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods by two weeks after China exempted some U.S. drugs and other goods from tariffs on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Beijing said Chinese companies have started to inquire about prices for U.S. agricultural goods purchases. U.S. farmers have been among the hardest hit by the tit-for-tat tariff battle.
“It is expected that China will be buying large amounts of our agricultural products!” Trump said in a tweet on Thursday.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sought to temper over-optimism, however, telling CNBC that Trump was prepared to keep or even raise tariffs on Chinese imports and that Beijing had asked for more concessions beyond the removal of tariffs.
The Wall Street Journal reported that China was seeking to narrow the scope of negotiations to trade matters by excluding national security issues.
On the U.S. side, Trump aides are considering an interim trade deal that would delay or even roll back some tariffs in exchange for commitments on intellectual property and agricultural purchases, Bloomberg News reported.
Speaking in Beijing on Thursday, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said China welcomed the U.S. delay to its schedule tariff hike on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods. “(China) hopes both sides would continue to meet each other half way and adopt concrete actions to create favourable conditions for negotiations.”