China, US will ‘redouble efforts and speed up’ trade talks, Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He says
- Negotiations in Washington extended for another 48 hours as the two sides try to reach a deal to end tariff war
- Liu says they have made ‘positive progress’ in areas including the trade imbalance, agriculture, forced technology transfers and financial services
Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He said China and the United States would “redouble efforts and speed up negotiations” on trade, as talks aiming to end a tariff war between the world’s two largest economies were extended for another 48 hours.
Appointed President Xi Jinping’s special envoy, Liu is leading China’s latest trade negotiations in Washington. He said the two teams had made “positive progress” over the past two days in areas including the trade imbalance, agriculture, forced technology transfers, intellectual property protection and financial services, and that a deal was “very likely”.
“In the next step, the two sides will redouble efforts and speed up negotiations to accomplish the great missions assigned by the two leaders,” Liu said, according to state news agency Xinhua on Saturday.
Liu made the remarks during a meeting with US President Donald Trump and his top advisers in the Oval Office on Friday, when Trump suggested that he would meet Xi to push for a final deal next month at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Palm Beach, Florida where the two leaders had their first face-to-face meeting about two years ago.
“Ultimately, I think the biggest decisions and some even smaller decisions will be made by President Xi and myself,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We expect to have a meeting some point in the not-too-distant future … And I think President Xi and I will work out the final points. Perhaps and perhaps not.”
Both sides said the talks – originally due to finish on Friday – had been extended for two days.
