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China’s envoy urges US to improve atmosphere to fulfil phase one trade deal
- New ambassador Qin Gang says China is working to implement the deal and US should create the conditions to do so
- Qin tells heads of American companies to embrace opportunities in Chinese market but says US restrictions and tariffs are not working
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Beijing’s new envoy to the US called on Washington to create favourable conditions for implementing the nations’ phase one trade deal, as he assured American businesses they were welcome in the Chinese market.
During a virtual meeting with the US-China Business Council, Qin Gang urged the Joe Biden administration to do more to facilitate fulfilment of the deal signed by the two sides in January 2020.
“It is hoped that the United States will effectively create the necessary conditions and atmosphere for the implementation of the agreement and bilateral economic and trade exchanges, instead of making it worse,” the ambassador said during Monday’s meeting.
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Qin said China had steadily implemented the agreement, reached during Donald Trump’s US presidency and due to expire at the end of this year.
02:23
Gloves off at top-level US-China summit in Alaska with on-camera sparring
Gloves off at top-level US-China summit in Alaska with on-camera sparring
Beijing has made progress in strengthening intellectual property (IP) protection and expanding market access for agricultural products and financial industries, but remains well short of the amount of US goods it committed to buy under the deal.
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China is on course to be more than 30 per cent short of the US goods it promised to buy during 2021, after falling more than 40 per cent short in 2020, according to Chad Bown, an economist at US think tank the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
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