US-China trade talks to resume in Washington

WASHINGTON: US-China trade talks aimed at ending a damaging tariff war will resume in Washington, the White House said. The last set of talks ended Friday in Beijing with no deal, though US President Donald Trump said discussions were going “extremely well” and suggested he could extend a March 1 truce deadline for an agreement to be reached.

The next round of negotiations will commence with deputy-level meetings before moving on to principal-level talks tomorrow, said a White House statement issued Monday. For the US, the talks will be led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, economic policy advisor Larry Kudlow, and trade advisor Peter Navarro. China’s commerce ministry meanwhile announced it would be represented by Vice Premier Liu He, Beijing’s top trade negotiator and key aide to President Xi Jinping, who agreed to a trade war truce with Trump at a meeting in Buenos Aires in December.

“We hope China and the US will both work hard together to implement the important consensus reached by our two heads of state in Argentina, get down to work, and walk together in the same direction towards a mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial agreement,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters yesterday. On Friday, Trump reiterated he might be willing to hold off on increasing tariffs to 25 percent from the current 10 percent on March 1 on $200 billion in Chinese goods if Washington and Beijing are close to finalizing an agreement to deal with US complaints about unfair trade and theft of American technology.

American officials accuse Beijing of seeking global industrial predominance through an array of unfair trade practices, including the alleged theft of American intellectual property and massive state intervention in commodities markets. — AFP