US, China hold more trade talks overshadowed by Kim visit

Two sides meet face-to-face for the first time since tariff truce in December

BEIJING: US officials held a second day of trade talks with Chinese counterparts in Beijing on Tuesday, overshadowed by an unannounced visit from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

This is the first time the two sides have met face-to-face since US President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping agreed to a tariff truce during a meeting in Argentina on December 1.

The US delegation - led by Deputy US Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish and including officials from the treasury, commerce, agriculture and energy departments - left its hotel without speaking to reporters ahead of the talks. Negotiators are seeking to resolve a number of thorny issues that have threatened an all-out trade war between the world's two biggest economies.



These include more Chinese purchases of US goods and services to reduce a yawning trade gap, increased access to China's markets, stronger protection of intellectual property and a reduction in Beijing's subsidies.

Neither side has provided any details about the talks. The temporary ceasefire came after the two sides imposed import duties on more than $300 billion of each other's goods.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday that China's economy is more vulnerable to the fallout from the trade war. "It certainly has hurt the Chinese economy," Ross told CNBC, noting that China exports many more goods to the United States than the other way around. Ross said there was a "very good chance" of reaching an agreement, although monitoring compliance would present a challenge.



Without a resolution, punitive US duty rates on $200 billion in Chinese goods are due to rise to 25% from 10% on March 2. The second day of trade negotiations coincided with an unannounced visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for talks with Xi in Beijing, amid speculation of a second meeting between Kim and Trump.

Some analysts say that China - Pyongyang's key diplomatic ally and main source of trade - could use Kim's visit as a bargaining chip in the US trade talks.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Kim's visit and the trade talks were "two separate matters". "China's position in the China-US trade friction and its solutions to the friction is open, it's transparent," Lu said at a regular press briefing.