US-China trade war: overdue talks restart on Biden’s watch, but analysts ask if real progress can be made

Beijing and Washington officials agree that resumption of trade dialogue after nine-month hiatus is important

But US Trade Representative Katherine Tai says ‘very large challenges’ exist in trade and economic relationship with China

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Vice-Premier Liu He and his US counterparts held “candid and constructive” trade talks on Thursday, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce. Photo: EPA

Published: 10:00pm, 27 May 2021Updated: 11:31pm, 27 May 2021

The first trade talks between China and the administration of US President Joe Biden should be viewed as a positive step forward in a frosty global economic environment, but their resumption after a nine-month hiatus is unlikely to lead to steps to end the nearly three-year-old trade war, at least in the near term, according to analysts.

Both Beijing and Washington confirmed in statements on Thursday morning that Vice-Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai had, in the words of China’s Ministry of Commerce, taken part in a “candid and constructive” virtual exchange earlier in the day.

This represented an overdue call between the two sides’ top trade negotiators, with the last such talks taking place in August during Donald Trump’s presidency. The phase-one trade deal, which was signed in January 2020 and took effect a month later, calls for top-level contact every six months.

The USTR’s office said that Tai had discussed the guiding principles of the Biden administration’s worker-centric trade policy and her ongoing review of the US-China trade relationship, while also raising “issues of concern”.

In an interview with Reuters released after the official statements, Tai added that the US still faces “very large challenges” in its trade and economic relationship with China that require the Biden administration’s close attention across the board.