Todd Bishop
A new round of trade negotiations between China and the United States was held on October 10. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He led a delegation to Washington to meet with US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. US President Trump described the consultations as well.
Trump told reporters at the White House that the consultations were going very well. “We will meet them tomorrow.” Reuters quoted White House officials as saying that the negotiations are progressing well, or even better than expected.
Before the negotiations, Trump issued a document saying that the day was a big day for negotiations with China. He said that “China hopes to reach an agreement, but am I? I will meet with the Chinese Deputy Prime Minister at the White House tomorrow.”
Reuters quoted Chinese officials, diplomats and investors as saying on the 9th that with the US blacklisting Chinese companies, Beijing has lowered expectations for this round of negotiations. According to the report, Beijing theoretically hopes to end the trade war that lasts for more than a year, but Chinese Communist Party officials are not optimistic about the size or scope of any agreement reached with Washington in the short term.
Trump said on the 9th that the two countries have a good chance to reach a trade agreement. He said: “If we can reach an agreement, we will reach an agreement and have a good chance to do something. I think that China wants to reach an agreement more than I do.”
Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that the White House is considering finalizing a previously agreed exchange rate agreement as part of an early agreement and suspending the tariffs that were originally scheduled to be imposed next week.
It is said that China is still open to some agreements. According to informed sources, Chinese negotiators are not optimistic about reaching a broad agreement to end the trade war this week, but Beijing will accept a limited agreement as long as Trump does not impose tariffs. Beijing will also make non-core concessions, such as buying agricultural products.
