US trade negotiators will travel to China in ‘very near future’: official

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US officials will soon resume face-
to-face trade talks in China, a White House official said Friday, reviving
negotiations that had verged on collapse in May.

President Donald Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping agreed to “fully
engage” on trade when they met in Osaka at the end of June, and since then
trade officials have spoken by phone, White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said on CNBC.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin will go to Beijing “in the very near future and we’re going to have
constructive talks to deal with these significant structural issues,” Navarro
said.

The trade dispute has roiled global financial markets and undermined
business confidence as Washington and Beijing have lashed out at each other with punitive tariffs on about $360 billion in goods.

The sides appeared to be close to a deal as recently as April but Trump
accused China of reneging on its commitments, scuttling the talks until the
leaders met on the sidelines on Group of 20 summit in Osaka, where Navarro said they made a “strong commitment” to restart negotiations.

Trump at that meeting agreed to hold off on his threat to hit China with
another round of steep tariffs that would cover nearly all the goods exported to the US market.

In another Twitter outburst Friday, Trump called tariffs “a great
negotiating tool” and “a great revenue producer.”

And he again accused China of weakening its currency to compensate for the 25 percent tariff.

Lighthizer and Mnuchin spoke with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and Commerce Minister Zhong Shan by phone on Tuesday, but officials have not provided any details on the status or the topics discussed other than to say they were constructive.

“We are, in my judgment, in a quiet period for the negotiations. My advice
for investors is to be patient with this process,” Navarro said.

“Don’t believe anything you read in either the Chinese or the US press
about these negotiations unless it comes from the mouths of either the
President or Ambassador Lighthizer.”