US and China: sprint to conclude agreement before Trump deadline

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US and Chinese negotiators met for more than seven hours on Saturday to resolve their trade dispute and avoid escalating tariffs that have already disrupted global trade, slowed the global economy and undermined trade. financial markets.

The two parties will meet again on Sunday morning as they try to seal an agreement before the March 1 deadline imposed by US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to significantly raise tariffs on Chinese products at least until the end of March. ;a deal.

Saturday marked the fifth consecutive day of negotiations between the two largest economies in the world. Discussions continued throughout the weekend after both parties reported progress in reducing their differences.

The Chinese delegation is due to visit Beijing on Monday, according to a person familiar with their route.

This is the fourth round of negotiations since Washington and Beijing agreed on a ceasefire in their trade war.

Trump, who has adopted an "America First" policy aimed at rebalancing global trade in favor of the United States, said Friday that there was "very good chance" that an agreement will be reached, and that he was inclined to extend his term on March 1st. deadline and meet soon Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Extending the deadline would mean suspending a planned increase in tariffs from 10% to 25% of Chinese imports to $ 200 billion in the United States.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the US and Chinese authorities had reached an agreement on monetary issues, but gave no details. US officials have long claimed that the Chinese yuan was undervalued, which gave it a commercial advantage and partly offset US tariffs.

China has also pledged to purchase an additional 10 million tons of US soybeans.

APPLICATION MECHANISM

Reuters said on Wednesday that the two sides are drafting memoranda of understanding on computer theft, intellectual property rights, services, agriculture and non-tariff barriers to trade, including subsidies.

On Friday, Trump said he did not like the memoranda because they are short-term in nature, and he wanted a long-term deal.

An industry source informed of the talks said the two sides had reduced their differences in intellectual property rights, market access and reduction of a trade deficit of nearly 400 billions of dollars with China. However, greater differences remain with respect to changes in China's treatment of SOEs, subsidies, forced technology transfers and computer theft.

There is also no agreement on the mechanism of application. The United States wants a strong mechanism to ensure compliance with China's reform commitments, while Beijing insists on what it calls a "fair and objective" process.

"The application is a difficult puzzle," said the source, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about the discussions. "You need objective referees to make a decision."

It was unclear whether Saturday's discussions had managed to bridge these differences. Neither party shared the details of the day's discussions.

Trump said the biggest decisions could be made during his meeting with Xi, probably in Florida next month, and that they could extend beyond trade to encompass Chinese telecommunications companies Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp <0763.HK 000063.SZ>.