China says US trade agreement not yet settled

Trump held out hope current trade talks with China will be a success

WASHINGTON: China said on Thursday there is "still much work to finish" on the text of a trade agreement with the United States.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday held out hope the current trade talks with China will be a success, and said an announcement on the status was due shortly.

The Wall Street Journal reported that US negotiators would return to Beijing at the end of the month.

Gao Feng, a spokesman for China's commerce ministry, declined to answer when asked about the next round of trade talks at a regular press briefing.



"Recently negotiations on the text of the China-US economic and trade agreement have continued to make new progress but there is still much work to finish," Gao said.

"Both sides will continue to keep in close contact through various effective channels," he told reporters.

The Journal reported US and Chinese officials are tentatively working towards a signing ceremony for the trade agreement as soon as late May.

During shuttle diplomacy in recent months, US and Chinese officials have alternated between projecting optimism and warning that success in their high-stakes talks is not guaranteed.

But a key US demand -- a binding enforcement mechanism to prevent Beijing from backsliding on its commitments -- has been virtually agreed, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said this month.

"At present, the China and US economic and trade teams are seriously negotiating the text of the economic and trade agreement, including the implementation mechanism, on the principle of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit," Gao said.

The two sides have exchanged tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade since last year, weighing on both countries' manufacturing sectors and unnerving global stock markets.



Last week, Mnuchin said US-China trade agreement would go "way beyond" previous efforts to open China's markets to US companies and hoped that the two sides were "close to the final round" of negotiations.

He added that he and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would hold two calls next week with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.

"I think we're hopeful that we're getting close to the final round of concluding issues," Mnuchin said.

Beijing and Washington are seeking a deal to end a bitter trade war marked by tit-for-tat tariffs that have cost the world's two largest economies billions of dollars, disrupted supply chains and rattled financial markets.