Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sounded a positive note on Friday as U.S.-China trade talks drew to a close in Beijing, as both sides tried to reach a deal that would avert a tariff increase on Chinese goods by March 1.
“Productive meetings with China’s Vice Premier Liu He and @USTradeRep Amb. Lighthizer,” Mnuchin said in tweet, without giving further details. Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer also planned to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was unclear when or if a statement would be released.
The U.S. and China were scrambling on Friday to produce a memorandum of understanding that would pave the way for a meeting between the two presidents, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the negotiations.
“Just wait for a while and the answer will be revealed soon,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told regular news briefing Friday in Beijing.
The uncertainty has weighed on investors, with Asian stocks retreating from the highest levels since October following a dip in U.S. equities. Both sides have an incentive to strike a deal: Trump has repeatedly linked market gains to his administration’s policies, while Bloomberg Economics estimates China would avoid a 0.3 percent drag on 2019 gross domestic product if the trade truce holds.
Trump earlier this week said he was open to delaying the deadline to more than double tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods if the two countries were close to a deal that addresses deep structural changes to China’s economic and trade policies. Bloomberg News reported late Wednesday that he’s considering pushing back the deadline by 60 days.
Asked Thursday if the Trump administration was considering extending the deadline for tariff increases, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said no decision has been made.
Later today, China and the United States have agreed to continue talks in Washington next week after two days of negotiations in Beijing produced “progress”, but not enough to finalise a deal to end the trade war.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday urged for a mutually beneficial deal in next week’s talks, while seated at the head of a long table of Chinese and American negotiators including US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
“I hope you can make persistent efforts to push forward an agreement that can benefit both sides,” Xi was quoted as saying by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. “We all think that in terms of maintaining the prosperity and stability of the world, as well as promoting global economic prosperity and development, our two countries share broad mutual interest.”
He said officials from both sides should properly manage their differences and step up communications to ensure the healthy development of their trade relationship, but added that “principles must be adhered to”.
“We are willing to resolve the issues through cooperation and seek an agreement acceptable to both sides,” Xi said.
Officials from both nations sounded a positive note on the latest discussions, despite the talks ending without formal statements and the two sides remaining far apart on key structural issues.
