A phone call was held between US and China top trade negotiators this morning. Accord to statement of China’s Ministry of Commerce: “Both sides discussed resolving core issues of common concern, reached consensus on how to resolve related problems and agreed to stay in contact over remaining issues for a phase one agreement”.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin participated in the call. Also, joined were Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan, People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang and Ning Jizhe, vice chairman of China’s top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission.
Yet, after another phone calls, there is no concrete news regarding the phase one trade deal. It’s reported that farm purchases and tariff rollbacks are currently the two sticky issues. It looks like officials from both sides are still targeting to complete the phase one by the end of the year. But negotiations could eventually drag on to next year.
