While hope persists that a trade deal will eventually be reached between the United States and China to bring an end to the damaging trade war, no agreement has yet been reached by the countries. However, a leading Chinese official stated that the two delegations are working day and night in order to reach an agreement and went on to state that he was optimistic about the outcome of the series of meetings. The statements were made by Wang Shouwen, who is the Vice Commerce Minister of China. Although he sounded optimistic, Wang did say that trade deal must be in the best interests of both countries.
The trade war between the two countries escalated into a hugely damaging retaliatory imposition of tariffs on each other’s products, and eventually, a truce was called so that a deal could be worked out. The first round of meetings had taken place in China, while the second round is currently being held in the US. It is important to note that US President Donald Trump, who had promised to impose hundreds of billions in tariffs on Chinese goods from 1st March has actually extended the deadline and it seems that a deal will eventually be worked out between the two nations.
Wang also said that trade war had also eroded the confidence of investors and he stated that both delegations are working hard to reach an agreement. He said, “Now, the economic and trade teams of the two sides are making full efforts to communicate and negotiate in order to reach an agreement in line with the principles and directions decided by the two heads of states. That is to remove all the tariffs imposed on each other so that bilateral trade relations between China and the United States can return to normal.”
The intense meeting between the two countries has seen officials going to and fro from Washington and Beijing, and it is believed that another round of talks could also be in the offing. Wang stated that the two parties are working ‘day and night’ to ensure that a deal could be agreed. He went on to give some details of the meetings that is probably out of bounds for most journalists. He spoke about the way the US representative Robert Lighthizer and China’s Vice Premier Liu He tried to make each other comfortable. “Throughout the negotiations, there was coffee and tea, but the two of them did not drink any coffee, did not drink any tea. They both drank boiled water. This is to find common ground.”
