President Trump will meet Vice Premier Liu He, this afternoon in the Oval Office. Liu He is leading the Chinese side of trade talks between the U.S. and China. Liu and his team will remain in Washington for three days and possibly longer. Trade talks between the United States and China made “good headway” last week in Beijing, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said. The two sides aim to bridge differences during talks that could extend beyond this week, he said.
Negotiations continued in Washington on Wednesday after meetings last week in Beijing, spearheaded by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
“We’re covering issues that have never really been covered before, including enforcement,” Kudlow said, listing U.S. accusations that Beijing engages in intellectual property theft, forced transfer of technology from U.S. companies doing business in China, cyber hacking, tariffs and non-tariff barriers for commodity trading.
Chinese commitments to increase purchases of American agricultural, energy, and manufactured products are expected to be part of a final deal. Trump administration officials have previously said that a six-year timeline for purchases exceeding $1 trillion had been under discussion. A final number for the amount of purchases has not been determined.
President Trump has repeatedly expressed his hope for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. A date for a meeting between Trump and Xi could be announced as early as today, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported.
