US-China Trade Negotiations: Latest Developments

According to a report on Reuters, US and China trade teams are expected to hold their next round of negotiations later today and the issue of tariffs is likely to be on the agenda. Sources aware of the negotiations stated that China could request the US to cancel some existing and upcoming tariffs on its imports in exchange for increasing purchases of US farm goods.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are expected to have a telephone conversation with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Friday to negotiate terms of the partial trade deal and a way forward to resolve their trade dispute. The Phase 1 trade agreement is most likely going to be signed by US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping at the upcoming APEC summit in Chile around mid-November.

While Trump has already put off a round of tariff hikes on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports which were due to be implemented earlier this month, China is likely to negotiate cancellation of the next round of tariff hikes scheduled for December on over $150 billion worth of imports as well. The next round of tariff hikes are expected to impact cell phones, laptops and toys imported from China.

In addition, China’s government is keen on the removal of the latest tariff hikes which came into effect in September, which impacts around $125 billion of its imports. These latest tariffs were announced the last time trade talks between the US and China teams had broken down. In response, China has expressed its willingness to exempt tariffs on some US agricultural products, including soybean, wheat and corn.