US-China Trade Negotiations Restarting This Week?

After a long spell of two months of uncertainty, trade negotiations between US and China are set to resume officially this week. The trade war has dragged on for a year now, with both sides hiking tariffs on each other’s imports.

At the G20 summit at the end of June, US President Trump met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and called for a truce in the tariff hikes as talks resumed between the two countries’ trade teams.

According to a US official, a call is scheduled to take place between US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He this week. On the agenda as trade talks progress will be the issue of forced technology transfers, IP protection, state subsidies to industries, and of course, tariffs.

While Trump has put off the next round of tariffs on Chinese goods worth over $300 billion, the Chinese is keen to take up the issue of the ban on Huawei in the discussions. Meanwhile, the US wants China to commit to making agricultural purchases as part of their negotiations towards a trade deal.