Good progress made on trade talks
US President Donald Trump met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House on Friday to discuss bilateral ties and the ongoing trade talks.
Liu is in Washington for the seventh round of high-level economic and trade talks between the world’s top two economies.
He is also visiting the United States as the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Liu first conveyed Xi’s message to Trump. The Chinese president said the two nations’ trade teams have recently been implementing the consensuses he reached with Trump in December in Argentina, and have carried out intensive economic and trade consultations.
Xi said these discussions have achieved good progress and have been well received by the two nations and the international community at large.
The Chinese president said he hopes the two sides would maintain the spirit of mutual respect and cooperation, make further efforts and meet each other halfway, so as to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.
Xi said he is willing to keep close contact with Trump via all channels.
On behalf of himself and his wife Peng Liyuan, Xi also extended sincere greetings and best regards to Trump, his wife Melania and other members of the US First Family.
During his meeting with Trump, Liu said his ongoing visit to the US as Xi’s special envoy aims to further implement the consensuses reached by the two presidents and push for further progress in the trade talks.
On Thursday and Friday, the two teams had engaged in productive talks, and achieved good progress in such areas as balance of trade, agriculture, technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights and financial services, said Liu.
He is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue. Liu said the two teams will redouble their efforts and speed up the consultations in the next stage, so as to fulfill the great responsibility the two presidents placed on their shoulders.
For his part, Trump said he appreciates Xi’s message and asked Liu to convey his warmest regards to Xi and Peng, as well as to the Chinese people.
He stressed that his relationship with Xi is close and strong.
The US-China relationship is extremely important and is currently “very good,” Trump said, adding that “great progress” had been made in the talks on Thursday and Friday, while there is still work to be done.
The two sides decided to extend the talks by two days till yesterday.
Trump said he believes the two parties would eventually reach a deal that is both “meaningful” and “good for both countries.”
He is looking forward to meeting Xi again in the near future and jointly witnessing a historic moment in bilateral trade and economic relations.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner also attended the meeting.
China and the US kicked off the seventh round of high-level economic and trade talks on Thursday, as negotiators strived to beat a 90-day deadline that ends on March 1.
The ongoing round of talks came on the heels of the just-concluded round held in Beijing on February 14 and 15, and the working-level consultation between the two sides started in Washington on Tuesday.
Altogether, these discussions aimed to resolve outstanding issues regarding the economic and trade relations between the world’s two largest economies.
With the current round counted, there have been three rounds of talks between the two sides in less than a month since the end of January, despite the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday in China and George Washington’s Birthday long weekend in the US.
During the last round of talks, the two sides reached consensus in principle on major issues, and had specific discussions about a memorandum of understanding on bilateral economic and trade issues.
After months of escalating trade friction involving massive extra tariffs on imports from each other, Xi and Trump agreed on December 1 that the two countries should manage to reach a mutually beneficial and win-win agreement within 90 days to break the impasse.
During a meeting with the US delegation last week, the Chinese president once again highlighted the role of cooperation in resolving the economic and trade differences and frictions, and urged negotiators of the two sides to “make persistent efforts” to reach a mutually beneficial deal.
“Cooperation is the best choice for both sides,” Xi said, adding that “of course, there are principles in cooperation.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔$粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.