US, China on the same page

Beijing – China said yesterday there was “no difference” with the US on reaching a trade agreement, amid scepticism over what US President Donald Trump has called a “substantial phase one” deal.

On Friday, Trump said after talks in Washington with Vice-Premier Liu the two sides had reached an initial agreement, but while Beijing said progress was made it did not state that a deal was struck.

However, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said: “What the US has said is the actual situation – it is consistent with our understanding of the situation.”

Geng added: “Both sides are in consensus about the issue of reaching an economic and trade agreement, there is no difference.”

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday US and Chinese officials would continue to hold talks by phone this week to finalise the deal.

Trump said the agreement included a pledge by China to rapidly ramp up purchases of American farm products.

But few specifics are available on the deal announced by Trump, which would not roll back the tariffs already imposed on hundreds of billions of dollars in trade between the world’s two dominant economic powers.

For his part, Liu said “substantial progress” had been made in areas including agriculture, intellectual property rights protection and the transfer of technology, the official Xinhua news agency reported after the talks.

The Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, People’s Daily, warned on Saturday the trade war would only be resolved by “abolishing all tariffs”.

China’s cautious response to Trump’s announcement has prompted scepticism over the progress of the deal.