US delegation’s visit to continue talks

Ross will lead group to Beijing after both sides vow not to start trade war

A United States delegation led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will visit China between June 2 and 4 to continue talks with the Chinese side on economic and trade issues.

The arrangement was confirmed in a phone conversation on Friday between Vice-Premier Liu He and Ross, Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.

Liu is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue.

The news of Ross’ visit comes after China and the US issued a joint statement on May 19 on economic and trade talks, vowing not to launch a trade war against each other. They agreed to take effective measures to substantially decrease the US trade deficit in goods with China.

Since China has agreed to adequately increase the import of US agricultural and energy products, the US delegation to China will talk about details related to these businesses, said Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Institute of the Ministry of Commerce.

“For example, they may not only talk about the exports of US crude oil and liquefied natural gas, but also infrastructure development for LNG receiving terminals and prices for different products,” he said.

Li Yong, deputy director at the China Association of International Trade, said they will also discuss the expansion of trade of manufactured goods and services, and offer opinions on how to create favorable conditions to increase trade in those fields.

In the joint statement released last week, China and the US agreed to continue high-level engagement and to seek to address their economic concerns in a proactive manner.

“It would set an example for further high-tech cooperation between Chinese and US companies if officials from both sides could reach consensus for China to import more high-tech US products,” he said.

“This will also inject new growth momentum into the two-way investment in the long run,” said Li.