U.S. and China to resume trade talks amid tariff battle

WASHINGTON — U.S. and Chinese officials said the two nations will resume lower-level trade talks this month in hopes of resolving an escalating battle over tariffs that threatens to damage both economies.

China’s vice commerce minister, Wang Shouwen, will lead a delegation traveling to the U.S. this month and will meet with U.S. officials led by David Malpass, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for international affairs, according to the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s official publication.

“Chinese officials called for talks and negotiations based on equality and mutual trust to ease the current trade tensions,” the publication reported Thursday. It noted that Chinese officials also said they would not accept unilateral trade restrictions.

Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s top economic advisor, confirmed the talks, which will be held at a lower level than negotiations in the spring attended by him and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up about 350 points in early trading Thursay amid investor optimism that the resumption of talks could end the growing trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

"Anytime you talk is better than not talking,” Kudlow told CNBC on Thursday. But he warned Chinese officials not to “underestimate the determination of President Trump” in the trade war.

“Give us market openings, take down your barriers, stop trying to capture and steal technology from the U.S. and Western companies. Give us a chance to compete (and) we will sell a ton of exports to China,” Kudlow said.

“They know what our asks are,” he said. “Perhaps, let’s be optimistic, they’ll follow through and some good will come of it.”

There were no additional details on the talks. A spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer declined to comment.

Officials from the two countries have not been talking since the U.S. followed through on Trump’s threats by imposing 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of imports from China in July, the first stage of an effort to hit $50 billion in imports from there.

Trump is trying to force China to loosen its trade restrictions to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with the Asian superpower.

China responded with its own 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of U.S. imports as a tit-for-tat trade war was launched.

U.S. officials said last week that they were moving ahead with 25 percent tariffs on an additional $16 billion of imports from China. Customs officials will begin collecting those on Aug. 23 on 279 categories of goods, including motorcycles, fiber optic cables and railway cars.

China has showed no signs of backing down. Officials said they would impose 25 percent tariffs on $16 billion worth of U.S. goods, including some vehicles, fiber optic cables, industrial chemicals, gasoline and other fuels, on the same day.

Looming ahead is a Trump threat to place tariffs on an additional $200 billion in Chinese imports. On Aug. 1, Trump tried to increase pressure on China by telling administration officials to consider more than doubling the size of those tariffs, to 25 percent from the 10 percent initially proposed in July.