by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : Senior officials from the US and China gathered here on Thursday for a new round of trade talks, eight days before the deadline set by US President Donald Trump for reaching a deal to avert the imposition of higher tariffs on imports from the Asian nation.
The US delegation is headed by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
The Chinese representatives include Deputy Prime Minister Liu He, central bank chief Yi Gang and Deputy Finance Minister Zheng Zeguang, Efe reported.
The talks are set to last two days and it is possible that Trump will receive Liu at the White House at the end of the round.
The previous round was last week in Beijing.
Trump met last Saturday with the US negotiators after the sessions in Beijing and called the talks “very productive.”
Negotiators are working to meet Trump’s March 1 deadline for an agreement to avert an increase, from 10 per cent to 25 per cent, in the tariffs the US imposed last year on $200 billion in Chinese products.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed during a December 1 meeting in Buenos Aires to observe a 90-day truce in the trade battle between the world’s two largest economies.
The truce is set to expire at the beginning of next month, but the US president has hinted that he might extend the deadline if he saw the talks were making progress.
“I think the talks are going very well,” Trump said on Tuesday.
“I can’t tell you exactly about the timing. The date is not a magical date because a lot of things are happening. We’ll see what happens,” he added.
The president has reiterated that it would be an “honour” to withdraw these tariffs if a pact with Beijing that includes greater access for American products to the Chinese market is finally reached.
China, for its part, has adopted several goodwill measures, such as lowering tariffs on imported vehicles from the US, resuming soy purchases from the US and introducing an initiative that would prohibit forced technology transfer from American countries doing business in the Asian nation.
“I love tariffs, but I also love them (the Chinese) to negotiate,” Trump said last week. “If we make a deal, they won’t have to pay.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : A new round of trade talks between the US and China will begin on Tuesday following those that were held in Beijing last week, the White House said.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Monday night that President Donald Trump had announced that the US will welcome a delegation from China, reports Efe news.
Preparatory meetings will be held on Tuesday with Deputy Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish leading the US delegation.
High-level meetings will begin on Thursday with the US delegation led by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
Trump’s economic policy adviser Larry Kudlow and his trade adviser Peter Navarro will also be present at the meetings.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Commerce Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that Vice Premier Liu He will arrive in Washington for the talks and will meet both Lighthizer and Mnuchin.
Liu led the Chinese delegation to Washington last month and had also met Trump, although it is unknown if they will meet again this time.
On February 16, Trump met the American negotiating team on their return from Beijing and said the talks had gone well.
After the conclusion of the third round of negotiations between the two sides on February 14 in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that “important progress” had been made during the talks, Xinhua news agency reported.
Trump and Xi agreed on a 90-day commercial truce on December 1 to negotiate an end to the ongoing trade war that has affected financial markets across the world and shaken the global growth outlook.
However, if the countries fail to reach an agreement by the March 1 deadline, Trump has said he will go ahead with his plan to increase tariffs on Chinese imports worth $200 billion from the current 10 per cent to 25 per cent, which he had temporarily suspended after the truce.
Trump has also said it would be an “honour” to remove the tariffs on China if an agreement is reached.
Since the truce, China has made several goodwill gestures such as lowering tariffs on vehicles imported from the US, and resuming the purchase of soy from the country and also submitting a bill to ban the forced transfer of technology.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
New York : US stocks traded mixed, as market sentiments were mixed due to rising hopes on global trade and concerns over bipartisan talks to avert another US government shutdown.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 53.22 points, or 0.21 percent, to 25,053.11 on Monday. The S&P 500 was up 1.92 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,709.80. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 9.71 points, or 0.13 percent, to 7,307.90, Xinhua news agency reported.
Shares of US aircraft manufacturer Boeing were on the rise throughout the day, amid growing hopes on the improvement of overall global trade environment.
Eight of the 11 primary S&P sectors extended gains after market close, with the industrials sector up 0.55 percent after the closing bell, leading the winners.
However, shares of Apple fell almost 1 percent around the closing bell, after iPhone shipments slumped 19.9 percent during the fourth quarter in China, according to a study by US market research company International Data Corporation on Monday.
More than a dozen of blue chips in the Dow extended losses on Monday, sinking the composite Dow index down into a red territory.
Among them, shares of Walt Disney and UnitedHealth Group slumped nearly 1.9 percent and over 1.8 percent respectively, leading the laggards.
Investors were closely watching a bipartisan meeting on Monday afternoon among key US lawmakers to search for clues on the direction toward which US economy is moving.
The move is meant to avoid another partial government shutdown by the deadline that US President Donald Trump previously set on Feb 15.
The meeting was scheduled after talks on border security funding failed between Democrats and Republicans on Sunday, due to a divergence on immigration enforcement rules.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Emerging Businesses, World
Beijing : A new round of meetings between Beijing and Washington to seek a way out of the trade war has been constructive and will continue, Chinese authorities said on Friday.
At the invitation of the US, a Chinese delegation led by Vice-Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen held talks on Wednesday and Thursday with the US delegation in Washington headed by Treasury Under Secretary David Malpass, China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement.
The exchange “on trade issues of mutual importance” was “constructive and frank”, according to the statement which assures that both parties will remain in contact, reports Efe news.
A new round of high-level dialogue is expected next week to put an end to the trade war ahead of the meetings between the US and Chinese Presidents, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, in upcoming multilateral forums.
The leaders are expected to meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in mid-November with heads of state from the other 19 member countries, and in a second session at the G20 leaders’ summit in Buenos Aires at the end of November.
On Thursday, the US announced a new round of 25 pe rcent tariffs worth $16 billion on Chinese imports, and China responded to match it shortly after.
Previously, when the $34 billion worth of taxes on Chinese imports came into effect on July 6, China in turn levied the same amount of tariffs on the US imports.
With this latest round of China’s tariffs on the US goods announced on Thursday, the total package now reaches $50 billion.
China on Thursday filed another claim before the World Trade Organization to “safeguard free trade and multilateral systems, and defend its own lawful interests”.
—IANS
