Trump plans to meet China's chief trade negotiator Liu He on Friday: Sources
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The US and China have set a March 1 deadline to negotiate an agreement before American tariffs on US$200 billion (S$270 billion) in Chinese imports rise to 25 per cent from 10 per cent.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - US President Donald Trump plans to meet with China's top trade negotiator on Friday (Feb 22) afternoon as the US tries to forge a preliminary deal with its biggest economic rival before tariffs on some Chinese imports more than double next month, two people familiar with the matter said.
The meeting with Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He would cap the latest round of talks in Washington, with Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer leading the US delegation.
Plans for a meeting between Trump and Liu signal optimism that talks are making sufficient progress to warrant another face-to-face meeting between the two men.
As the discussions continued on Thursday, reports emerged that negotiators are working on memorandums of understanding that would form the basis of a final deal. The MoUs would cover areas including agriculture, non-tariff barriers, services, technology transfer and intellectual property, according to a person briefed on the talks.
The US and China have set a March 1 deadline to negotiate an agreement before American tariffs on US$200 billion (S$270 billion) in Chinese imports rise to 25 per cent from 10 per cent.
In a Twitter post on Sunday, after a week-long round of talks in Beijing, Trump said "big progress being made on soooo many different fronts!"
China is proposing that it could buy an additional US$30 billion a year of US agricultural products including soybeans, corn and wheat as part of a possible trade deal, according to people with knowledge of the plan.
The US is also asking China to keep the value of the yuan stable to neutralise any effort to devalue the currency to counter US tariffs.
The White House declined to comment about a Trump-Liu meeting on Friday.
Investors are keeping a close eye on negotiations considering a setback could undermine global markets as concerns grow that the bilateral tensions are hurting world trade. Shipping giant Maersk said on Thursday that profit will fall short of expectations and the outlook for this year is bleak, while South Korea and Japan have reported declines in exports.
