China says Washington asks to resume talks on tariff fight
- by Shawn Tate
- in Economy
- — Sep 15, 2018
"We have indeed received an invitation from the USA side".
"I think most of us think it's better to talk than not to talk, and I think the Chinese government is willing to talk", Kudlow said.
While certain doubts have been raised about the current worldwide trading system, China has always supported the protection of free trade and believes that multilateralism with the WTO at its core should be strengthened, Wang added. "If we meet, we meet?"
The basic tenets of the WTO, in opposing protectionism and supporting free trade should not change, but the rights of developing nations should also not be overlooked, he said.
American consumers have not felt widespread price increases months after the Trump administration started rolling out tariffs, and economist Robert Scott says the doomsday predictions might never materialize.
"The issue of WTO reform is extremely complex, and involves many areas".
"The Treasury Department is in communication with China".
In recent meetings with cabinet-level Chinese officials, USCBC representatives were told that licensing won't resume "until the trajectory of the U.S".
While no concrete details were revealed by either side, potential new talks would be aimed at staving off the next round of US$200 billion in punitive duties from the USA expected this month - the largest tariff measure in the intensifying trade war so far - and US$60 billion in retaliatory tariffs from China.
The U.S. has enjoyed near-record low joblessness and faster economic growth in 2018, while Beijing's economy faces growing long-term concerns, including a sharp decline in the value of its currency. "It has enough fuel to drive its economy even if a trade war is prolonged". We will soon be taking in Billions in Tariffs & making products at home.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Wednesday invited Chinese officials to a new round of talks later this month over USA threatened tariffs on Chinese exports worth $200 billion, and a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters Thursday that Beijing welcomed the invitation.
Christopher McNally, an adjunct senior fellow at the East-West Centre in Hawaii, said the Trump administration may seek a deal on the trade war before the elections, though he cautioned that the U.S. president could easily throw out any negotiated settlement if he felt it did not "help him politically or doesn't go far enough, doesn't make him look good enough".
"Our markets are surging, theirs are collapsing", he wrote. Right now, Donald has slammed $US50 billion worth of Chinese exports to the USA with tariffs and the Chinese have returned fire.
The step comes exactly one week since Trump raised the possibility of duties on the $200 billion of imports and also threatened tariffs on $267 billion worth of goods.
Such a meeting could take place in Washington or Beijing, according to informed sources.
The talks could stave off the growing costs for American firms, though the two sides have failed to reach an agreement over several rounds of negotiations in spring and summer.
