No breakthrough in Us-china trade talks as fresh levy kicks in

WASHINGTON: The US and China made little progress at the end of two days of trade negotiations in Washington on Thursday as they stuck to their positions.

Amid continued retaliatory tariffs on $16 billion of each other’s goods, that came into effect on Thursday, the two sides exchanged views on how to break the impasse for bringing normalcy in their smouldering trade relations. Both sides seemed confident that the other side will blink first due to its deteriorating domestic economic climate and thereby, left the impasse to persist till the next round of talks, said an analyst familiar with the negotiations.

The US and China “exchanged views on how to achieve fairness, balance and reciprocity in the economic relationship,” said Lindsay Walters, the White House deputy press secretary. She did not indicate whether the two sides made any concrete progress.

On Thursday, the US pressed ahead with its decision to slap punitive 25% tariffs on another $16 billion of Chinese goods, in addition to the imports of $34 billion of Chinese goods that were already subjected to duties last month on grounds that China engaged in “unfair trade practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation”, under Section 301.

In addition, the US trade representative’s office had set in motion a process for a likely imposition of tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese goods by the end of next month under the condemned Section 301 provisions.

China promptly retaliated with its own fresh tariffs on $16 billion imports of American goods that include fuel, steel products, auto, and medical equipment. The retaliatory tariffs imposed by China came into effect the same time that the US tariffs were imposed on Thursday. China is also expected to file a fresh compliant at the World Trade Organization against the US duties under Section 301 that was found to be violative of global trade rules.

China has consistently maintained that it is ready to address market access concerns, including the renminbi exchange rate issue, raised by the US. Beijing, however, insisted that the US must abandon the unilateral tariffs that violate core global trade rules when the talks are underway.