China and the United States held "constructive " consultations ahead of trade negotiations
Representatives of the governments of the United States and China held a two-day consultations at the level of deputy ministers in Washington September 19-20 in Washington to resolve the trade dispute and negotiate a new trade deal between the countries.
The State News Agency of the PRC "Xinhua " on Saturday, September 21, reported that the parties discussed the 13th round of trade and economic consultations between the PRC and the United States at a high level in October in Washington. Beijing says the talks were "constructive ".
The office of the US Trade Representative, in turn, reported about a "productive discussion " with the Chinese delegation.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said yesterday that he does not necessarily need a trade deal with China before the presidential elections in November 2020. According to him, it is more important to reach a comprehensive agreement, rather than individual successes. "We want a full agreement, " Trump said, quoted by the dpa news agency.
Previous rounds of US-China talks in July and May ended without significant progress. The exact date of the talks in October was not announced.
Trade war between the PRC and the USA
The US government has introduced or announced the introduction of increased duties on almost all imports from China in the amount of more than $ 500 billion. In May this year, the United States raised import duties on Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent for an annual import volume of $ 200 billion. In response, Beijing has taken a series of similar actions and raised duties on US products totaling $ 60 billion in annual imports. In early August, Trump announced the introduction of an additional 10 percent import duties from China in the amount of $ 300 billion, starting September 1, 2019. However, on August 13, Washington decided to postpone the introduction of 10 percent customs duties on some commodity groups until December 15. And the increase in duties from 25 to 30 percent, which should come into force on October 1, Trump as a "gesture of goodwill " moved to October 15.
In addition, the US Department of Commerce blacklisted the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei and related firms for "activities contrary to national security" of the country. After that, the PRC announced its intention to create its own black list of companies and persons who will be prohibited from working with Chinese firms.
In June, during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to resume trade talks. Trump also promised the Chinese leader to unblock the supplies of American firms to Huawei.