The two-day talks in Washington to eliminate the stalemate in the trade between the US and China have ended without any agreement. But China’s hope is not over yet.
The chief envoy representing China in the trade talks in Washington said that the failure to reach any agreement with the US is “a minor setback” and despite the increase in import duty on goods from China in the US, the talks will continue.
Some differences left
According to the news agency PTI, before talks with reporters before leaving for Washington on Friday, Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Liu He said that he was optimistic, but to reach an agreement, the Trump Administration of US needs to agree to abolish the penal charge (tariff) imposed on billions of dollars of Chinese products. On comments made in China’s official CCTV, Liu said that the differences which are left remains quite sensitive. ‘These principles are connected and we do not give any concessions in terms of principles.’ Nevertheless, he said that he does not believe the talks have broken.
Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV showed him saying, ‘On the contrary, I think that this is a minor setback between the two countries, which is understandable.’ Liu said, “China’s opinion is that tariffs are the starting point of the dispute over the trade and in the event of any compromise, it should be completely removed.”
It is worth noting that the US Trump Administration increased the tariff on the billions of dollars worth products imported from China from 10 percent to 25 percent on Friday. American Business Representative Robert Lighthizer said that the US is preparing to raise the fee for taking $ 300 billion of Chinese products into the tax net, which has not come under import duty.
This tariff will be levied on more than 5 thousand items. This series of conflicts between the two countries started in July last year when the US had imposed new tariffs on Chinese products for the first time.
In other words, it is almost ready to charge almost all goods imported from China. Liu said that there is a disagreement between the two sides about China’s commitment to buying goods from America to help reduce US trade deficit.
