US Invitation For Trade Talks Welcomed By China


09/15/2018



The invitation by the United States for fresh negotiations on trade was welcomed by China even as the Trump administration is reportedly getting ready to impose another round of import tariffs on Chinese goods worth $200 billion.
 
The global stock and financial markets breathed a sigh of relief in the hope of de-escalation of trade tensions between the US and China following the announcement of the invitation for trade talks by a top economic adviser of the White House. There was rise in the Asian markets and strengthening of the Chinese yuan currency.
 
China welcomes the negotiation invitations, said its Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.
 
“China has always held that an escalation of the trade conflict is not in anyone’s interests. In fact, from last month’s preliminary talks in Washington, the two sides’ trade talk teams have maintained various forms of contact, and held discussions on the concerns of each side,” he said. 
 
A formal invitation for the talks was sent to senior Chinese officials by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, said Larry Kudlow, head of the White House Economic Council, in an interview to Fox Business Network.
 
“There’s some discussions and information that we received that the Chinese government – the top of the Chinese government wished to pursue talks,” Kudlow said. “And so, Secretary Mnuchin, who is the team leader with China, has apparently issued an invitation.”
 
According to sources in the White House as quoted by the media, the invitation by Mnuchin was sent to the Chinese counterparts that include Vice Premier Liu He who is also the chief economic adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, the time and p[lace of the negotiations still remains to be worked out.
 
 “I think most of us think it’s better to talk than not to talk, and I think the Chinese government is willing to talk,” Kudlow had previously told reporters outside the White House. Btu there was no confirmation about the potential for the breakthrough to end the trade spat between the two largest economies of the world.
 
The last time trade representatives from the two countries had met was on Aug. 22 and 23 when the talks yielded no outcome.
 
The trade war between the two countries has seen each imposing import tariffs on each others’ goods worth $50 billion. The US had been demanding the China introduce large scale trade policy reforms that can help the US to narrow the huge trade deficit that it has with China – which includes measures like stopping requirement for technology transfer in joint venture projects and ending industrial subsidy programs.
 
Sources could not however substantiate whether the invitation for talks would delay the proposed decision of the Trump administration to impose fresh tariffs on Chinese goods worth $200 billion which primarily includes a wide range of internet technology goods and consumer products.
 
(Source:www.reuters.com)