US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Calls US-China Trade Talks in Beijing 'Productive'

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2019) The US trade delegation in Beijing has held productive talks with Chinese representatives and the country's vice premier, Liu He, about a potential future trade agreement, US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said on Friday.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Mnuchin are currently leading a delegation in Beijing for two-day talks with their Chinese counterparts as both sides work to reach an acceptable trade deal.

"Productive meetings with China's Vice Premier Liu He and @USTradeRep Amb. Lighthizer," Mnuchin said on Twitter.

On Thursday, media reported, citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the situation, that Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold meetings with Mnuchin and Lighthizer on Friday.

China and the United States have been engaged in a trade war since US President Donald Trump announced in June that the United States would subject $50 billion of Chinese goods to 25 percent tariffs in a bid to fix the US-Chinese trade deficit. Since then, the two countries have exchanged several rounds of trade tariffs.

At the G20 summit in Argentina in December, Trump and Xi agreed on a 90-day truce to allow room for talks that would help cement a new trade deal. While this truce is set to end on March 1, Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he could extend the deadline if there was progress in the talks.