Washington and Beijing are making “headway” on key issues in their ongoing trade dispute and discussions will continue, the US Trade Representative’s office said Friday following a phone call between senior officials.
President Donald Trump heralded a major win in his offensive against China two weeks ago, saying the economic powers were close to concluding a “substantial phase one deal.”
https://twitter.com/BrebsomClaude/status/1183067108319617024
However the details were, and remain, scarce, nor have the two sides announced rollbacks of existing tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in trade.
Trump says he expected to sign an agreement with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Santiago in mid-November.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke with China’s Vice Premier Liu He Friday on “Phase One of the US-China trade agreement,” USTR announced.
“They made headway on specific issues and the two sides are close to finalizing some sections of the agreement,” the statement said.
While the statement did not provide any specifics, it said, discussions “will go on continuously at the deputy level and the principals will have another call in the near future.”
Read more: Trade Wars: Trump’s Imagination of a New World Order?
Trump said China committed to a surge in purchases of American farm products and the deal also covers intellectual property, financial services and currencies.
Trump from Oval Office: "Phase 1" deal with China now being papered: Includes ✅Intellectual property. ✅Currency manipulation. ✅Financial services. ✅$40-50 billion in purchases of U.S. agricultural products. #FactsMatter #PatriotsAwakened pic.twitter.com/tkrup68IeT
— TRUTH NOW ⭐️⭐️⭐️🗽 (@sxdoc) October 12, 2019
The White House held off on a massive tariff increase planned for October 15 on $250 billion in Chinese goods but new 15 percent tariffs on another $150 billion in goods planned for December have not been rolled back.
Trump says he expected to sign an agreement with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Santiago in mid-November.
AFP with additional input by GVS News Desk.