China and US ‘agree to phased rollback’ of extra trade war tariffs
- Negotiators from both countries still trying to reach interim deal, Chinese Ministry of Commerce says
- Xi Jinping to visit Greece and Brazil next week but still no indication of any meeting with Donald Trump to sign deal
China and the United States have agreed to remove additional tariffs in phases once their leaders sign an interim deal towards ending a costly trade war, with both sides still working to wrap up the agreement, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.
Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said China and the US had extensive and serious discussions over the past two weeks to try to end their trade war, and the agreement would help stabilise the world economy.
“In the past two weeks, top negotiators have had serious and constructive discussions on resolving issues of core concern. Both sides agreed to remove the additional tariffs imposed in phases as progress is made on the agreement,” Gao said.
“If China and the US reach a phase one deal, both sides should roll back existing additional tariffs in the same proportion simultaneously.”
He said that both sides could decide how much would be scrapped in the first phase based on the content of the agreement.