Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was little changed on Friday in Asia as traders evaluated the latest trade news.
Gao Feng, China’s Ministry of Commerce spokesperson, insisted again at a weekly press conference that the U.S. should roll back tariffs as part of a “phase one” agreement.
“The trade war was begun with adding tariffs, and should be ended by canceling these additional tariffs. This is an important condition for both sides to reach an agreement,” Gao said.
“If both sides reach a phase one agreement, the level of tariff rollback will fully reflect the importance of the phase one agreement,” Gao said, noting the two countries’ trade delegations are in deep consultations on this topic.
Meanwhile, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Washington is “getting close” to a trade deal with Beijing.
Citing unnamed people close to the talks, the Financial Times said an agreement may not be reached in time to avoid a new round of U.S. tariffs taking effect on Dec. 15.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were widely expected to sign the deal at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Santiago, but Chile canceled the event in late October due to domestic unrest.
The U.S. dollar index was unchanged at 98.020 by 11:13 PM ET (03:13 GMT).
The USD/CNY pair slipped 0.2% to 7.0076.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) unexpectedly extended loans through its medium-term lending facility (MLF) on Friday, while keeping the interest rate on one-year MLF loans unchanged at 3.25%.
The PBOC also said it has injected 200 billion yuan ($28.60 billion) into financial institutions via the liquidity tool.
The NZD/USD pair gained 0.1% to 0.6387. The New Zealand dollar had jumped on Wednesday when the country’s central bank unexpectedly left interest rates steady.
The Australian dollar rebounded 0.2% to 0.6795 against the U.S. dollar after falling in the previous session amid an unexpected rise in unemployment.