More outcomes expected from US, China trade talks

Chinese vice premier to hold new round of consultations from Thursday to Friday

BEIJING: China Vice Premier Liu He will hold a new round of high-level China-US economic and trade consultations with United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Beijing from Thursday to Friday.

Analysts said the two sides are likely to propose weightier measures to address economic and trade differences and to broaden overall cooperation.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, based on recent talks in Washington, China and the US will engage in further discussions on issues of common concern. The US delegation arrives in Beijing on Monday.

China and the US have been embroiled in trade frictions for several months. The two sides are now in the midst of a 90-day tariff truce, which began on December 1, when President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.



Wei Jianguo, vice-chairman of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, said, "In the next stage, the two sides will still be subject to various global pressures. However, I believe that the two sides will be able to propose more weighty measures to solve differences in their further consultations," Wei said.

Zhou Mi, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said companies in the two countries definitely do not want to end their cooperation. Calling for a stable environment, Zhou said more and more achievements may be made through cooperation at different levels.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-US diplomatic ties. In 2018, trade volume between China and the US exceeded $630 billion, and two-way investment surpassed $240 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

This article originally appeared in the China Economic Net