United States and Chinese senior officials spoke by phone on Thursday in Washington, the second call since the late June summit at which the two sides agreed to a truce in their ongoing trade conflict.
US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Steven Mnuchin spoke to the Chinese side earlier, a USTR spokesman confirmed. There were no details released on what was discussed, and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce didn’t respond to a faxed request for more information.
Talks between the two sides collapsed in May and there’s been little public progress since Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to a truce when they met in Japan last month. There are still deep differences between the two nations, with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross cautioning the negotiations would be a “long, involved process.”
Trump this week reiterated that he could impose additional tariffs on Chinese imports if he wants, and complained again that China wasn’t buying the large volumes of US agricultural goods that he claims Xi promised to purchase. Another major sticking point for any resumed negotiations will be how exactly the US will ease trade restrictions on Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies Co.
The US government is under pressure from Congress not to make concessions on Huawei, with a bipartisan group of US. Senate and House lawmakers unveiling legislation this week that that would stop the removal of Huawei from the “technology blacklist” without an act of Congress. US Sen. Rick Scott said on Thursday in a Bloomberg Television interview that Huawei is not a trade issue, but a national security one and is non-negotiable.
Mnuchin said earlier this week that if discussions with Chinese officials by phone were productive that he and Lighthizer would travel to Beijing for more meetings.
Image credits: Skypixel/Dreamstime.com