US – China Trade talks to resume next week in Washington

The United States and China will resume trade talks next week in Washington with time running short to ease their bruising trade war, but U.S. President Donald Trump repeated on Friday that he may extend a March 1 deadline for a deal and keep tariffs on Chinese goods from rising.

Chinese state media on Saturday expressed cautious optimism over trade talks between the United States and China, a day after President Xi Jinping said a week of discussions had produced “step-by-step” progress.

Xi made the comments at a meeting on Friday with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Beijing, after a week of senior- and deputy-level talks.

The People’s Daily, the official paper of the ruling Communist Party, said in a commentary that Xi’s meeting with U.S. negotiators had affirmed progress made in previous talks and “injected new impetus into the next stage of the development of Sino-U.S. trade relations.”

The talks “have made important progress” for the next round of negotiations in Washington next week, the paper said in its domestic edition.

via CNBC