Trump administration officials have sent a proposal for a fresh round of trade talks to the Chinese government, according to a new report Wednesday. The move follows several weeks of rising tensions between the two sides as President Trump has suggested ratcheting tariffs up to cover more than half a trillion dollars in Chinese goods.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sent a letter to China’s Vice Premier Liu He proposing bilateral talks in the coming weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal. It was not known whether Beijing has responded.
The Trump administration has placed 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in worth of Chinese goods and the administration is expected to finalize plans for 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese goods. Trump has recently proposed additional tariffs on $267 billion of additional goods, a move that would push the total tariffs to cover $512 billion in goods. That is in addition to 25 percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum ones, both policies mainly directed at China.
Beijing has hit back by placing tariffs of between 5 and 25 percent on $60 billion worth of U.S goods and has warned of additional responses.
China sent negotiators two weeks ago to Washington in attempt to resolve the stand-off but the talks yielded no results.
An administration official could not be reached for comment.
[Related: Trump: ‘Only fools would disagree’ with tariffs — China is ‘doing poorly’]
