U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has started discussions with Vice Premier Liu He about trade deals that will hopefully end the ongoing ‘trade war’ between China and the United States.
The two countries leaders, Trump and Xi, are still scheduled to meet at the end of the month to negotiate trades, but in the meantime their two representatives spoke by telephone on Friday.
Earlier this year, the Trump Administration placed high tariffs on products imported from China, and those tariffs are anticipated to go up on approximately $200 billion of those products effective in January.
The Chinese Government has responded to the Trump Administration by placing high tariffs on American goods and will likely increase the amount in January unless agreements can be made between the two governments.
The U.S. is requesting that China issue a concrete deal before the formal negotiation meeting on a trade deal take place in late November. Representatives from China are denying the request in an effort to speak with U.S. officials about trade regulations and deals before submitting a formal proposal to the U.S.
The Chinese officials have concerns that once they make a formal deal they will be lose leverage in the negotiation process with U.S. officials. The conversation on Friday did not lead to any breakthroughs in resolving trade issues, however.
The stalemate between the two economic superpowers will continue as Trump has prioritized keeping an aggressive stance with China against what he believes are unfair trading regulations and forced technology transfers. Economic experts have major concerns about the effect the high tariffs will continue to have on American consumers and importers if an agreement is not made with the Chinese governmentsoon.
Trump and Xi will meet at the G20 Summit in Argentina later this month where a much anticipated resolution will hopefully be made between the two economic superpowers.
