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Teddy Ng

Negotiators from China and the United States will hold two more rounds of trade talks by early May as the countries’ attempts to end their months-old trade battle intensify, US media reported on Thursday.
Chinese officials were putting the finishing touches on the language they intend to use in their latest offers, diplomatic observers told the South China Morning Post.
But US businesspeople watching the talks cautioned against excessive optimism, saying “systemic issues” remain to be fixed.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to travel to Beijing the week of April 29, according to Bloomberg.




The next week, Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He will go to Washington for talks, which officials hope will lead to the announcement of a deal and the details of a signing summit, probably for late May, according to the report.
Plans for more talks follow Mnuchin’s statement last week that the parties had agreed to set up enforcement offices in each other’s country to monitor the trade deal’s implementation, resolving a major sticking point in the talks.
When US President Donald Trump received Liu in the White House on April 4, he said it would take about four weeks to reach a framework for the agreement and another two weeks to set details.
It is not known whether the negotiators will resolve all the outstanding issues within Trump’s time frame, but the diplomatic observers said they expected a deal to be reached soon.

“I think they are entering the final stage, and the discussion will rather focus on the wording of the deal document than principal issues,” said Wang Huiyao, president of the Centre for China and Globalisation, a Chinese non-governmental think tank based in Beijing.
China and the US have been locked in a tit-for-tat tariff battle since July 6.
Is Donald Trump now about to target the car industry?
The sides have engaged in several rounds of talks since negotiating teams led by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump called a truce in their tariff war at the conclusion of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 1.
A major bone of contention remains America’s insistence that Beijing cut the subsidies it hands out to Chinese industries. For its part, Beijing wants the US to lift all tariffs it imposed on billions of dollars of Chinese imports.




Tim Stratford, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said that despite a growing belief that an end to the trade war might be near, solutions to deeper issues still needed to be worked out.
“I don’t think it would be easy for China to agree to a one-way enforcement mechanism where the US can enforce but China cannot,” he said. “I think that’s very hard for China to agree to.
China economy off to strong 2019 as stimulus offsets trade war
“But it’s also true that if it’s two-way, then if it’s abused one way or another, the agreement will fall apart. So this is a very delicate situation.”
US companies could feel “pleased and hopeful” about China’s recent promise to buy more American goods to close the US-China trade deficit, Stratford said.

“But I think more broadly, buying commitments are not really a traditional part of trade policy negotiations.”
On Wednesday, a chamber white paper said trust between China and the US had plummeted to the extent that US businesses in China could no longer be regarded as a “positive anchor” in the countries’ trade relations.
That change in sentiment came from years of broken Chinese promises to open up the Chinese market to foreign companies, according to the document.
Additional reporting by Sarah Zheng


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US-China trade war

Two more rounds of talks set for May amid hope the US-China trade war is ending

China and the United States have been locked in a tit-for-tat trade war since July 6. Photo: AFP

President Donald Trump meets China's Vice Premier Liu He in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

epa07469932 China's Vice Premier Liu He (C) talks with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (R) and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (L) at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, 29 March 2019. EPA-EFE/NICOLAS ASFOURI / POOL

Donald Trump’s trade war tariffs on car industry sending shock waves through global supply chain

The US-China trade war directly affects 3 per cent of global trade, but the automotive industry accounts for 8 per cent, according to World Trade Organisation figures. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Employees transport tires at a Hankook Tire factory in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province in this December 6, 2011 file photo. China's factory sector contracted for an eighth straight month in June 2012, with export orders and prices turning in their weakest showing since early 2009, a private-sector survey showed on Thursday. The HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers Index, the earliest monthly indicator of China's industrial activity, fell to a seven-month low of 48.1 in June from a final reading of 48.4 in May. REUTERS/Stringer/Files (CHINA - Tags: BUSINESS COMMODITIES INDUSTRIAL) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA

RICHMOND, CA - MAY 24: Brand new cars sit in a lot at the Auto Warehousing Company near the Port of Richmond on May 24, 2018 in Richmond, California. U.S. president Donald Trump is threatening to impose heavy tariffs on auto imports and has directed Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross to look into and determine if auto imports could be considered a national security threat and if it would be possible to bypass congress and take unilateral action under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

TO GO WITH: China-economy-invest-foreign, FEATURE by Sebastien Blanc Photo taken on June 3, 2011 shows new cars lined up at the Changan Ford Mazda joint venture plant in the Chinese southwestern city of Chongqing. After just a few years of explosive growth, China's mega-city of Chongqing has emerged as a major industrial hub, thanks in part to a "Go West" policy to open up China's less-developed inland. AFP PHOTO / LIU JIN

US President Donald Trump signs Section 232 Proclamations on Steel and Aluminum Imports in the Oval Office of the White House on March 8, 2018, in Washington, DC. Trump on Thursday declared the American steel and aluminum industries had been "ravaged by aggressive foreign trade practices" as he signed off on contentious trade tariffs. "It's really an assault on our country," he continued. "I've been talking about this a long time, a lot longer than my political career." / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN

A man checks on from a car as it moves onto a car carrier trailer transporting vehicles for export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China March 31, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA.

In this Aug. 29, 2018, photo, a man works in an auto parts factory in Liaocheng in eastern China's Shandong province. The Trump administration announced Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, that it will impose tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese goods starting next week, escalating a trade war between the world's two biggest economies and potentially raising prices on goods ranging from handbags to bicycle tires. (Chinatopix via AP)

The US-China trade war directly affects 3 per cent of global trade, but the automotive industry accounts for 8 per cent, according to World Trade Organisation figures. Photo: Reuters

China economy off to strong start in 2019 as stimulus steps offset trade war impact

Women work on a data cable production line at a factory in Xinyu, Jiangxi province, China April 8, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Pork for sale is seen at a supermarket in Beijing, China, April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee

epa07441573 Builders work on the site of a commercial building in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, 16 March 2019. Shenzhen, a city of 12 millions and with Special Economic Zone in China, is home to over 1100 completed high-rises. EPA-EFE/JEROME FAVRE

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US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to travel to Beijing the week of April 29
Officials hope to announce a deal when Chinese Vice Premier Liu He visits Washington the following week


US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to travel to Beijing the week of April 29. Officials hope to announce a deal when Chinese Vice Premier Liu He visits Washington the following week.


Two more rounds of talks set for May amid hope the US-China trade war is ending

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to travel to Beijing the week of April 29 Officials hope to announce a deal when Chinese Vice Premier Liu He visits Washington the following week

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to travel to Beijing the week of April 29

Officials hope to announce a deal when Chinese Vice Premier Liu He visits Washington the following week