China pledges to expand US imports, IP protection for deal to end trade war

The latest round of China-US trade talks made important progress and Beijing has agreed to make key concessions to expand American imports in agriculture, energy, manufacturing and services, the main demand of President Donald Trump, official media reported on Friday. The two sides had candid, specific and constructive discussions, state-run Xinhua quoted the Chinese delegation as saying.

Guided by the important consensus reached by the two countries' heads of state in Argentina, the two sides discussed the topics of trade balance, technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), non-tariff barriers, service sector, agriculture and enforcement mechanism, as well as certain issues of particular concern for the Chinese side, it said.

The Chinese delegation said that creating a market environment of fair competition goes in line with the general direction of China's reform and opening-up, and therefore the Chinese side will actively address relevant US concerns.

The two-day talks in Washington on January 30-31 were led by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, with the participation of dozens of senior officials from both the governments.

The White House said in a statement that the two sides had made progress but that "much work remains to be done."
The US and China have been locked in an escalating trade spat since early 2018, raising import tariffs on each other's goods.

Last year, Trump imposed tariff hikes of up to 25 per cent on USD 250 billion of Chinese goods. The move prompted China to increase tariffs on USD 110 billion of American goods. During a meeting in Argentina on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit, Trump and Xi agreed to halt any further tariff increases for 90 days beginning January 1.

Liu and Lighthizer held candid, specific and constructive discussions in particular on such topics of common concern as trade balance, technology transfer, IPR protection and enforcement mechanism, as well as certain issues of particular concern for the Chinese side, according to the Chinese delegation.

Important progress has been made for the current stage, and the two sides also determined the timetable and roadmap for next-step consultations. Both sides attach great importance to the issue of IPR protection and technology transfer, and have agreed to further enhance cooperation in this regard, the Xinhua report said.

Both sides believe that it is very important to establish an effective two-way enforcement mechanism, so as to ensure all measures agreed upon through consultations will be implemented.

The Xinhua agency said that the two sides have agreed to take effective measures to promote a more balanced development of bilateral trade.

The Chinese side will make active efforts to expand imports from the US in the sectors of agriculture, energy, manufacturing and services, which will help China's pursuit of high-quality economic development and meet the people's demand for a better life, the Chinese delegation said.

They have reached consensus in principle on the framework and basic elements of the enforcement mechanism, and will continue to hammer out more details, it said.

The two sides also discussed some specific concerns of the Chinese side, and the US side said it would seriously address these concerns, the Xinhua report said without specifying.

Significantly, China's vocal protests over the last month's arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the high-profile CFO of China telecom giant Huawei in Canada have not been found mention in the Chinese delegation briefing.

She was arrested following request from US alleging that she and her company violated American sanctions against Iran.

Ahead of the trade talks on Tuesday, US caught China by surprise by issuing a criminal indictment against Huawei and sought the extradition of Meng from Canada. The charges include a series of crimes like stealing trade secrets which Chinese officials say would complicate efforts to negotiate an end the bruising trade war.

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For its part China minced no words demanding the withdrawal of arrest warrant against Meng, the high-profile daughter of Huawei's owner Ren Zhengfei who was arrested on December 1, last year by Canada following an extradition request by US under a bilateral treaty between the two countries.