China and the United States have agreed to hold trade talks “in the coming days” to evaluate the progress of their single-trade phase six months after it went into effect in February, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.
Ministerial spokesman Gao Feng made the remarks at a weekly information week held online, but did not comment.
They followed Tuesday’s remarks by Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that no new trade talks were planned, although both sides were in touch on how the deal will be executed.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump told reporters that he had postponed a review of the trade pact planned for August 15, in frustration over Beijing’s treatment of the coronavirus pandemic.
The deal, reached on January 15 and seen as a major breakthrough following a two-year trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies, set ambitious goals for China to sharply increase purchases of American farm and manufactured goods.
But ties quickly soured in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and China’s introduction of a new national security law in Hong Kong.
Both sides are dealing with threats and sanctions on individuals and companies, such as the Chinese video platform TikTok.
Official data also suggests China’s imports of U.S. farms and manufactured goods, energy and services are well behind the pace needed to meet a first-year target increase of $ 77bn over 2017 purchases.
However, China’s purchases have increased in recent weeks as its economy recovers from the lockon of this coronavirus year.
SOURCE:
Reuters news agency
.
