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China presses U.S. to cancel tariffs in test of bilateral engagement

Published 10/08/2021, 09:49 PM
Updated 10/09/2021, 01:10 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 12, 2021.  Susan Walsh/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 12, 2021. Susan Walsh/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

By David Lawder, Michael Martina and Engen Tham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -China said on Saturday it pressed the United States to eliminate tariffs in talks between the countries' top trade officials that Washington saw as a test of bilateral engagement between the world's biggest economies.

The virtual talks between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and China's Vice Premier Liu He followed Tai's announcement https://www.reuters.com/business/bidens-new-china-trade-plan-echoes-trumps-assumes-beijing-wont-change-2021-10-04 on Monday that she would seek "frank" talks and hold China to its commitments under a 'Phase 1' trade deal negotiated by former President Donald Trump.

"The Chinese side negotiated over the cancellation of tariffs and sanctions, and clarified its position on China's economic development model and industrial policies," China's Xinhua state news agency said after the talks, held on Friday Washington time.

Tai intended to use the call, the second between the two, to test whether bilateral engagement can address U.S. complaints about Beijing's trade and subsidy practices, a USTR official said.

"Ambassador Tai and Vice Premier Liu reviewed implementation of the U.S.-China Economic and Trade Agreement and agreed that the two sides would consult on certain outstanding issues," USTR said in a statement.

Xinhua said the two sides "expressed their core concerns and agreed to resolve each other's reasonable concerns through consultation."

"Both sides agree to continue communicating with an equal approach and mutual respect, and to create the conditions for the healthy development of economic and trade relations between the two countries and the recovery of the world economy," it said.

U.S. CITES CHINA'S 'AUTHORITARIAN' APPROACH

In a briefing ahead of the call, a senior USTR official said Tai would give Liu an assessment of China's performance in implementing the Phase 1 deal, including promised purchases of U.S. goods that are falling short of targets.

Asked about the shortfalls, China's ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, told China's Phoenix TV in an interview on Friday that Beijing had always kept its promises in state-to-state relations, the embassy said in a summary released Saturday.

He said Beijing had sincerely and steadily implemented the agreement, despite serious challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, including what he called "tangible steps" on intellectual property protections and opening the financial sector.

He faulted Washington for acting at the same time to impose barriers and restrictions on Chinese firms in the United States.

Tai would raise concerns about China's "non-market" economic practices, the U.S. official said.

"We recognize that Beijing is increasingly explicit that it is doubling down on its authoritarian state-centric approach and is resistant to addressing our structural concerns," the official said, adding that consequently, Washington would focus on improving U.S. competitiveness, diversifying markets and "limiting the impact of Beijing's harmful practices."

The Phase 1 deal https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-details-factbox/whats-in-the-u-s-china-phase-1-trade-deal-idUSKBN1ZE2IF in January eased a long running tariff war between the world's two largest economies. It focused largely on China's promise to boost purchases of U.S. farm and manufactured goods, energy and services by $200 billion over two years, along with increased protections for copyright, trademarks and other forms of intellectual property.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside a company building in Shanghai, China April 14, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

The Trump administration envisioned a Phase 2 negotiation to follow to tackle more difficult issues such as subsidies to state enterprises and China's strategic industrial policies.

The official said Tai's future engagement with China would depend on "how China responds to tonight's call" and declined to discuss possible next steps, but added that Tai would not seek Phase 2 negotiations.

Latest comments

China owns the weak debt slave USA
US political corruption is so out of control. We could change that. All that's needed is to stop buying into all the fraudulent issues politicians created, create, and use, that divide us & keep us fighting with each other. All their doing is distracting us so they keep can stealing from our cookie jars. These tricks are ancient. But, they never taught us that is school. They didn't want us to know.
sorry can't hear you over the sounds of vaccinated beating up unvaccinated
hunter biden and john kerrys son started a company called rosemont seneca capital… they took half a billion from the chinese communist party… so what is the cost of buying a US politician… and will beijing biden do whats best for the peasants in the US or will he do what he is told to by china in prder to enrich his own family? We will see…
Tariffs need to be equal in order to be fair. Any country imposing tariffs on foreign goods entering their country should have equal tariffs placed on their exports.
No they dont… but if both economies were fully open and fair trade… there needs not be any tariffs… but if one government subsidizes an industry than another government may levy tariffs to create a more equal playong field for its domestic producer… or if an industry is a product that is key to national security and defense than it may be essential to protect that business from being put out of service…
Can Chin@ add themself to the list?
With the long and deep relationship between B’s family and CCP, many sweet deals will be announced to favorite CCP in the future.
I've noticed the quality of goods made in Malaysia and Vietnam are already surpassing China.. like they were never there.. The decoupling isn't taking as long as I expected.
Exactly- Chinese goods are sub par to almost every other nation. Funny how the liberals in the US cry about civil liberties yet they all buy cheap Chinese goods. Lol Hypocrites- every last one of them
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If they buy 20 or 30 Hunter "paintings", they'd probably be dropped.
"Ambassador Tai and Vice Premier Liu ... agreed that the two sides would consult on certain outstanding issues," "We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions..." - Neville Chamberlain, 30 Sept. 1938
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