Exclusive | US trade war negotiators likely to visit China next week for first face-to-face talk since G20, source says
- American delegation led by trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are set to meet Vice-Premier Liu He
- President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Donald Trump met at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, at the end of June and agreed to a trade war ceasefire
US negotiators led by trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are likely to fly to China next week for the first face-to-face talks since President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Donald Trump agreed to a trade war ceasefire at the end of June, according to a source who is familiar with the matter.
An in-person meeting between Lighthizer, Mnuchin and Vice-Premier Liu He, who leads China’s negotiation team, would be seen as a positive step towards reducing trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies, although talks to reach a deal to end the year-long trade war are still expected to take a significant amount of time.
Neither Beijing nor Washington have given an official indication of when the meeting would take place, but both sides have expressed a willingness. After the phone call last week, Trump said on Friday that US trade negotiators “had a very good talk” with the Chinese side, while Mnuchin confirmed face-to-face talks could follow.
Taoran Notes, a social media account affiliated with state-owned Economic Daily, noted in a commentary on Sunday that the last two phone calls could lead to a resumption of negotiations soon “if there are no major changes in the situation”. The account also suggested that the negotiations could take place before the end of July.
