China and US in backstage talks to avoid trade war, says OECD boss
Angel Gurria stresses that no one will win in a trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies
The United States and China are negotiating behind the scenes to ease trade tensions, the head of the OECD said on Friday, stressing that “nobody wins” in a high-level trade war.
Angel Gurria said Chinese officials had told him this week that they were talking to their US counterparts, despite official denials.
“Everybody is very alarmed by these announcements [of tariffs], but at the same time, they are talking … there seems to be a series of conversations going on,” added Gurria, who heads the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
China’s Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said on Thursday that “up to now China and the US have not carried out negotiation at any level on the trade frictions”.
China has warned it will hit back at any US protectionist moves after US President Donald Trump last week threatened fresh levies on billions of dollars of Chinese imports.
