China, US officials talk trade on phone

CHINESE Vice Premier Liu He, chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue, held a phone conversation at request with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin late on Friday.

In the phone talks, the two sides agreed to appropriately address each other’s core concerns.

The phone talks have also confirmed that the technical consultations regarding part of the text for a preliminary trade deal are essentially completed, and that agreement has been made that the United States will import Chinese-made cooked poultry and catfish products, while China will lift a ban on US poultry.

China’s core concerns are threefold — namely the removal of all tariffs imposed in the trade war, a realistic volume of U.S. goods purchases that China will make, and a “balanced” text for the trade deal, China Global Television Network said in a comment.

Technical problems

This is a very important development. It shows that the two sides are solving some technical problems, advancing towards a common goal and further laying the foundation for signing a phased agreement.

A concrete implementation of the outcomes of the latest round of China-US high-level trade talks two weeks ago, this shows that the two sides have taken a step further towards the signing of an interim trade agreement as a response to market expectations, CGTN said.

During this call, top trade officials of both sides also confirmed that they will call again in the near future, and that during this period, the two countries’ trade officials will keep up discussions.

It can be expected that trade representatives of both sides will step up their efforts to facilitate the signing of an interim agreement.

Senior Chinese officials, including Commerce Minister Zhong Shan, and Governor of the People’s Bank of China Yi Gang, also joined the talks.

(Xinhua)