Amid sluggish economic growth and bid to curb global recession, China and Us agree to reinstate trade talks
The People’s Republic of China has said that a high-level delegation will visit the Washington in October 2019, to resume the trade talks with the United States (U.S.).
The announcement came after the Chinese Vice Premier – Liu He spoke to the U.S. Trade Representative – Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury – Steven Mnuchin, over phone today, i.e., Thursday, September 5, 2019. The Commerce Minister of China – Zhong Shan, the Governor of People’s Bank of China – Yi Gang and the Deputy Head of National Development and Reform Commission – Ning Jizhe were also present during the call.
Speaking on the occasion, a Chinese Ministry Spokesperson said, “On the basis of full preparation by the working groups of both sides, efforts striving for substantive progress will be made in the 13th round of China-US high-level economic and trade consultations in early October.”
Besides, a deputy-level meeting will be held around mid-September 2019 to prepare the ground for the meaningful talks when both sides meet in October 2019. The delegates from 2 nations last spoke to each other in August 2019, where they decided to meet in September 2019. However, post that both the sides indulged into imposing increased tariffs.
Initially, the President of U.S. – Donald Trump announced to impose 10% tariff on Chinese goods worth U.S. $ 300 billion. This was further raised to 15%. China hit back by increasing the tariffs from 5% to 10% on U.S. goods worth U.S. $ 75 billion. Taking the trade war to the next level, Trump announced to increase tariff from 25% to 30% on separate set of Chinese goods worth U.S. $ 250 from October 1, 2019.
Trump has also said that he would be tough on China if the trade talks are dragged on, compounding market fears that trade war can bring a recession in the U.S.
It is to be noted that both U.S. and China know that the trade war can push the global economy into recession. Despite being one of the fastest growing economy, China’s growth is forecasted to be less than 6% in the next year. The Switzerland based UBS bank has reduced its initial growth forecast from 5.8% to 5.5%. The Bank of America Merrill Lynch has trimmed its forecast to 5.8%. Growth below 6% would mean China will find it difficult to fulfil its long-term goal of doubling the per capita real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the end of 2020 from a decade earlier.
