U.S.-China to end grimy dispute
High-level phone discussions last week were ‘a lot more positive than has been reported’
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Washington and Beijing are working to revive pivotal talks aimed at ending the trade war that has roiled world markets, Donald Trump’s chief economic advisor said Sunday.
If calls between both sides’ deputies pan out in the next 10 days “and we can have a substantive renewal of negotiations,” Larry Kudlow said on “Fox News Sunday,” “then we are planning to have China come to the USA and meet with our principals to continue the negotiations.”
The US president himself weighed in on Twitter, saying, “We are doing very well with China, and talking!”
In another tweet, he added that the US economy was “poised for big growth after trade deals are completed,” and that China is “eating Tariffs.”
Yet it was unclear whether a Chinese delegation would be coming to Washington next month, as a White House spokesman predicted in July after US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin left a round of trade talks in Shanghai.
Kudlow nonetheless emphasized that high-level phone discussions last week were “a lot more positive than has been reported.”
The talks involved Lighthizer and Mnuchin on the US side and Vice Premier Liu He and Commerce Secretary Zhong Shan representing China.
World financial markets have been on edge amid signs pointing to a possible global economic slowdown — notably because of the trade war between the world’s two largest economies — and have been reacting nervously to even the slightest new indicator.