Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday that the latest round of trade talks in Beijing went well, bolstering hopes that the U.S. and China may yet reach a deal that would end their current trade war.
The talks are scheduled to continue in Washington, D.C. next week and expected to include a one-on-one negotiation between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in April.
“.@USTradeRep and I concluded constructive trade talks in Beijing. I look forward to welcoming China’s Vice Premier Liu He to continue these important discussions in Washington next week. #USEmbassyChina,” Mnuchin tweeted Friday. He offered no further details of the meeting or what progress was made.
.@USTradeRep and I concluded constructive trade talks in Beijing. I look forward to welcoming China’s Vice Premier Liu He to continue these important discussions in Washington next week. #USEmbassyChina pic.twitter.com/ikfcDZ10IL
— Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) March 29, 2019
In a statement posted Friday, the White House echoed the comments: “The two parties continued to make progress during candid and constructive discussions on the negotiations and important next steps.”
The talks have reportedly been snagged over issues of whether the Trump administration will lift trade sanctions before it has definitive confirmation that China has moved first to address U.S. concerns over its policies and whether Beijing will agree to allow the administration to immediately apply tariffs if it is deemed in violation of the terms of the deal.
The Trump administration last year first placed tariffs of 10 percent to 25 percent on on $250 billion worth of goods from China. Trump has lately indicated that the administration opposes lifting all of the tariffs as part of a deal. “If you look at technology and the first $50 billion of goods [covered by the tariffs], we want to keep that because we need that,” Trump told Fox Business last week.
[Opinion: US-China trade negotiators: Bootleggers and Baptists ride again]
