High-level US-China Talks Aimed at Curbing Trade War Continue

The meeting between the governments of China and the United States in Beijing, which seeks to end President Donald Trump's trade war, will continue at least one day longer than expected, reports the official daily Global Times.

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The round of talks ended on Tuesday night without major results. However, analysts quoted by Chinese press say that the extension of the negotiations until Wednesday reflects the will to reach an agreement.

Although there is still no confirmation of the results so far, China is expected to increase the purchase of U.S. agricultural products. The resolution of other issues of greater importance, such as changes in economic policies, could be postponed for other meetings at a higher level.

The US delegation is headed by Deputy Foreign Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish and also includes members from other departments such as Energy, Agriculture or Treasury.

This is the first face-to-face meeting between representatives of both countries since Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a 90-day truce on Dec.1, 2018.

According to the agreed terms, China and the United States must reach a definitive trade agreement before next March 1.

Trump announced that it would temporarily suspend the increase from 10% to 25% of tariffs on Chinese products valued at US$200,000 billion.

For its part, Beijing has taken goodwill measures such as the reduction of tariffs on vehicles imported from the United States, the resumption of the purchase of soy or the presentation of a bill to prohibit the forced transfer of technology.

The trade war against China began in Mar. 2018 when President Trump announced his intention to impose US$50 billion tariffs on 1,300 Chinese products, arguing that the Asian power had a history of unfair trade practices and intellectual property theft.

In response to that decision, China's Ministry of Commerce imposed tariffs on 128 U.S. products, including scrap aluminum, aircraft, automobiles, pork products, soy, fruit, nuts, and steel pipes.

At the G20 meeting held in Buenos Aires, however, China and the U.S. agreed to continue negotiations on tariffs from Jan. 2019.