Representatives of China and the United States began a new round of negotiations in Beijing on Thursday (28.3.2019), which will continue until tomorrow, in which both parties seem to be getting closer to an agreement that will put an end to the trade war that began a year ago.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrived in Beijing this morning at the head of a delegation of senior officials and soon after met with the Chinese delegation, led by Vice Premier Lu Hei.
This is the first time the two delegations have met in person since a meeting in late February in Washington, after which US President Donald Trump said they were "very close to an agreement."
Trump even suggested that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping would give their blessing to the agreement at a meeting at his private residence in Florida before the end of March.
However, the agreement has not yet been finalized, despite the US president's assurances last week that talks with China "are progressing very well."
Although they have not met in person, the negotiators have maintained numerous telephone and videoconference contacts this month.
One of the key issues that remains to be resolved in the negotiations is whether the agreement will involve the elimination of all tariffs by both parties.
China is demanding that the final agreement include this point, while the US is resisting lifting the tariffs completely for fear that Beijing will end up reneging on its commitments.
According to some analysts, Washington's refusal to remove all tariffs once a deal is reached has led China to backtrack on some of the issues it had committed to at the end of February, complicating the process.
Last week, Trump said he would keep some tariffs on Chinese goods “for a substantial period of time” until he was confident that Beijing would comply with the agreements.
So far, the United States has imposed tariffs on $250.000 billion worth of Chinese imports, while the Asian giant has done the same on $110.000 billion worth of American imports.
Washington has imposed a 25% tax on imports of technological and industrial goods worth $50.000 billion and a 10% tax on purchases of products - including furniture - and construction materials worth $200.000 billion.
Among the main demands of the US in the negotiations are guaranteeing equal competition between US and Chinese companies, putting an end to practices against intellectual property and ending the forced transfer of technology by US companies to Chinese companies.
Both sides are working on a 150-page document, which sets out the progress made at the end of February and which - according to the independent Chinese newspaper South China Morning Post today - the Americans have not provided a Chinese version of, which has not gone down well with the Asian side.
Aside from the issues on the table, there are also external factors that influence the talks and can tip the balance in one direction or the other.
The report by US special prosecutor Robert Müller on the investigation into the so-called Russian plot, from which Trump has emerged unscathed, could influence China's rush to reach an agreement soon, since in Beijing it is seen as a sign that the current tenant of the White House could remain in power after the next elections.
The negotiations in Beijing today and tomorrow, of which no details have been revealed so far, will be followed by another round of talks in Washington starting on April 3, which could definitively clear the way for Trump and Xi to sanction the agreement at the end of that month.
Source: Reuters
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