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Leaders of United States and China including their President Donald Trump & Xi Jinping. File Photo[/caption]
GFMM desk: Leaders from the United States and China faced new hurdles in their fight to end a vicious trade war on Wednesday, when the conference they were supposed to meet was canceled due to violent protests.
US President Donald Trump said this week that he is in Chile during the November 16-17, 2019 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping expressed the hope of signing an interim trade agreement. Chilean officials say they have canceled the summit to focus on restoring law and order in the country.
The White House later said that the United States is still hoping to sign a preliminary trade agreement with China next month, but no alternative location has been set for a meeting between Xi and Trump.
“We look forward to finalizing Phase One of the historic trade deal with China within the same time frame,” the White House said in a statement that omitted a mention of the president or his planned meeting with Xi.
China’s commerce ministry said in a statement on Thursday the bilateral talks will continue to proceed as previously planned and the lead trade negotiators from both countries will speak by telephone on Friday.
U.S. and Chinese negotiators have been racing to finalize a text of the “phase one” agreement for Trump and Xi to sign next month, a process clouded by wrangling over U.S. demands for a timetable of Chinese purchases of U.S. farm products.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who was traveling in the Middle East, told Reuters on Wednesday that U.S. discussions with China had been productive, and work on finalizing the text of the deal was continuing. China’s commerce ministry also said on Thursday the negotiations were progressing well.
The White House intends to offer some U.S. locations as alternatives for the APEC summit, according to one source familiar with U.S. thinking. Alaska and Hawaii could be potential options that would be acceptable to China, said a second source familiar with the issue.
China has also suggested Macau as a possible venue, according to one China trade source familiar with the issue.
Source: Reuters
SZK
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