President Donald Trump will not back down from his tough stances as the United States and China resume trade talks later this month, White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said in an interview on Thursday, as he confirmed that a Chinese delegation will visit Washington later in August.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2018) President Donald Trump will not back down from his tough stances as the United States and China resume trade talks later this month, White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said in an interview on Thursday, as he confirmed that a Chinese delegation will visit Washington later in August.
"The Chinese government, in its totality, must not underestimate President Trump's toughness and willingness to continue this battle to eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers and quotas, to stop the theft of intellectual property and to stop the forced transfer of technology," Kudlow told CNBC news, adding that the current trade dispute would continue if Beijing does not make the changes the United States has requested.
Kudlow said his office would be involved in the upcoming talks, but he also confirmed that the US delegation would likely be led by Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs David Malpass, a lower-ranking official than those who represented the United States in previous rounds of negotiations.
China has said it will send a lower-ranking official to the talks, Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen. Previous talks were led by two higher ranking officials, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Prime Minister Liu He. This will be the fourth round of talks on import duties since February.
The last round of talks was held in June and did not lead to a breakthrough.
The United States and China have imposed billions of Dollars worth of tariffs on each other's imports in an escalating trade war. Last week the Office of the US Trade Representative announced it had finalized new tariffs on $16 billion worth of products from China that would be subjected to a 25 percent tariff. US Customs and Border Protection will start collecting these duties on August 23.
The first tranche of tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports went into effect on July 6, the release added.
Last week, China responded to a proposed tariff increase from 10 to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese products with a threat to impose duties of up to 25 percent on US imports worth $60 billion.
The US-China trade dispute started after Washington imposed steep steel and aluminum tariffs and banned exports to Chinese telecommunications company ZTE.
