China's top economic adviser will visit the US next week to continue discussions on the ongoing trade dispute between the two nations after talks in Beijing failed to produce a breakthrough to avert a possible trade war.
The US and China are trying to avoid a trade war and have ramped up tensions in recent weeks with threats to impose tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of each other's products
The visit by Vice-Premier Liu He - considered President Xi Jinping's right-hand man on economic issues - comes after he led talks in Beijing last week with a high-level US delegation.
"China's top economic adviser, the vice premier (Liu He), will be coming here next week to continue the discussions with the president's economic team," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at her daily news conference yesterday.
Early in the morning, Trump was briefed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other officials who had recently travelled to Beijing for discussions on trade issues. Led by Mnuchin, the delegation, among others, included the US Trade Representatives and the Commerce Secretary.
"The President had a briefing this morning with members of the team that travelled to China. The President has a great relationship with (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping), and we are working on something that we think will be great for everybody," Sanders said.
The visit by the Chinese delegation comes soon after a US presidential delegation led by Mnuchin went to Beijing for trade talks. Trump wants substantial reduction in trade deficit with China, which currently stands at USD 500 billion. China wants the US to stop an investigation into the country's acquisition of sensitive American technologies.
The US delegation's visit to China did not yield any result, The Wall Street Journal said.
"The US and China asked one another to make sweeping concessions but failed to bridge divisions, raising the chances that each government will slap tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of the other country's exports," the daily reported.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on as much as USD 150 billion in Chinese goods, duties that can be imposed after a public comment period ends on May 22.
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