Resumed talks raise hopes for China-US trade deal

Consensus between leaders of two sides sets positive tone for future talks

BEIJING: Analysts have said they hope that China and the United States will iron out their differences and deliver a win-win outcome as top negotiators from both nations resumed trade talks on Tuesday.

Vice Premier Liu He spoke by phone with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday evening, the Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday.

The officials exchanged views on implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state during the G20 summit, the ministry said. Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan also joined the conversation, it said.

US, China negotiators resume trade war talks

Yan Jinming, Executive Dean of National Academy of Development and Strategy at Renmin University of China, said the consensus reached between the two countries’ leaders set a positive tone for future high-level economic and trade talks.

“I hope China and the US will properly solve their differences and conflicts about the trade issue, cooperate with each other and seek win-win results, so as to enhance the well-being of people from both countries and the rest of the world,” Yan said.

Diao Daming, Associate Professor at Renmin University of China’s School of International Studies, said the essence of China-US trade friction is competition between huge economies.

“The China-US high-level economic and trade consultations have resumed. The main goal of the talks is to stabilise bilateral relations through ad hoc mechanisms and set an example for solving potential problems in the future,” Diao said.

China and the US, after their leaders’ meeting in Osaka, are seeking to advance their talks, which stalled in May, and to end the costly trade war, analysts said.

India-US trade talks to restart Friday with little sign of compromise

The two countries have exchanged tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s imports, while Washington had tightened its restrictions on many Chinese companies.

In addition to the resumption of phone talks, there was another positive sign as the office of US trade representative said on Tuesday it will temporarily exempt 110 Chinese products, from medical equipment to key capacitors, from 25% tariffs imposed last July, Reuters reported.

Also, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the US government will issue licences to US companies seeking to sell products to Huawei Technologies Co when there is no threat to national security, according to a statement released on the department’s website on Tuesday.

This article originally appeared on the China Economic Net 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2019.

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