US, China begin trade talks

The US and Chinese officials returned to the negotiating table Wednesday to finalise a bilateral trade agreement which would address President Donald Trump's major concerns with regard to China in particular the massive trade deficit and theft of intellectual properties.

US Trade Representatives Robert Lighthizer is leading the American delegation, while the Chinese team is headed by Vice Premier Liu He. The two delegations were seen talking to each other in a friendly atmosphere.

"Now the dinner between the two presidents, if you were to the right you became famous, if you were to the left, you weren't in the picture," Lighthizer said, referring to the dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina on December 1 on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit.

The two leader, during the summit, set March 1, 2019 as the deadline to find a solution to the bruising trade war under which Trump has imposed over USD 250 billion worth of Chinese exports.

Trump threatened to slap additional tariffs on all Chinese exports unless China brings down the USD 375 billion trade deficit. Both sides were hopeful to find a solution after the recent Vice-Ministerial level talks and a deal was expected to be reached on January 30-31 talks.

The American delegation included Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Economic Advisor to the President, Larry Kudlow; Gregg Doud, USTR Chief Agricultural Negotiator; Under Secretary for International Affairs David Malpass; Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro and Jeffrey Gerrish, Deputy US Trade Representative.

Other members of the Chinese delegation were Central Bank Governor Yi Gang; National Development and Reform Commission deputy chief Ning Jizh; Finance Vice-minister Liao Min; Foreign Vice-minister Zheng Zeguang; Commerce Vice-minister Wang Shouwen; Agriculture Vice-minister Han Jun and Industry and Information technology vice-minister Luo Wen.

Trump is expected to meet the Chinese delegation.

According to the Treasury Secretary, significant progress has been made in the talks between the two countries on issues of trade so far. "There's been significant movement and we're working through what are still very completed issues," he told reporters ahead of the talks.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)