Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (center), US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (right) and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pose for a photo before holding talks at the Xijiao Conference Center in Shanghai on Wednesday. Chinese and US negotiators met in Shanghai in a bid to bring an end to a year-long trade war. Photo: IC

The latest round of China-US trade talks ended with "candid, constructive and efficient" in-depth exchanges in Shanghai and the next round will take place in the US in September. The two sides also discussed further Chinese purchases of US agriculture imports "based on its domestic demand," and how the US should create a favorable condition for such purchases. 

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held the 12th round of China-US high-level economic and trade consultations in Shanghai Tuesday to Wednesday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Based on the consensus that the leaders of the two countries reached in Osaka, Japan in June, the deep exchange between the two sides this time on issues of concern to both sides in the economic and trade fields was frank, constructive and efficient, said Xinhua. 

The statement from the White House also described the meetings as constructive. 

Liu is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue, and Chinese Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan also attended the consultations.

The two sides also discussed the issue about China to increase US agricultural imports, "based on its domestic demand," and how the US should create a favorable condition for such purchases. 

The talks, which lasted two days, are the first round of talks the two sides have held since May and according to Xinhua, the next round will take place in September in the US.

Bai Ming, deputy director of the Ministry of Commerce's international market research institute, told the Global Times that the scant information revealed the talks must have been "heated" and reached a stalemate.

Bai said favorable conditions that will make more Chinese agricultural purchases happen could refer to partial concessions from the US. 

"It could be on the US commitment to relax a ban on Huawei, or it could be US efforts on other fronts," said Bai. "At any rate, China would not make an agriculture purchase if it deemed US efforts fell short of expectations."

Observers noted that even if China decides one day to buy more US agricultural products, that would serve its real domestic demand rather than to appease US protectionism and hegemony.

The US crackdown on Chinese tech companies, among which telecom giant Huawei Technologies is a prominent target, seems to have failed to achieve the knockout effect it did with another Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp in the year of 2018. 

Huawei on Tuesday reported robust first-half revenues of $58.3 billion, up 23.2 percent year-on-year, even as the US ban remains on software and key parts supplies.

US President Donald Trump agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting at the G20 Osaka summit to allow US companies to supply Huawei, but so far, little has happened on the ground.

On Tuesday, Trump tweeted that China has lost jobs due to "the Trump Tariffs" and "Trumps got China back on its heels." 

He also tweeted "China is doing very badly, worst year in 27 - was supposed to start buying our agricultural product now - no signs that they are doing so. That is the problem with China, they just don't come through."

Diao Daming, a US studies expert and associate professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday that this shows that Trump is getting nervous as he desperately wants to earn credit from the talks with China to reinforce his reelection campaign.

Trump also cautioned China not to delay finalizing a trade deal until after the 2020 presidential election, threatening there would be a much tougher offer on the table or no deal at all if he wins.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying responded Wednesday that releasing such pressure on China at this time is useless. 

"The US should show more sincerity and credibility," Hua said.

Linking the trade talks with the presidential elections will make the US even more untrustworthy not only to China but also to other US trade partners with trade frictions, Diao noted. "The key is the US should show an attitude of honesty and credibility based on win-win cooperation and mutual respect," he said.

"A deal can surely be reached with such an attitude, and without this attitude, any release of nervous and frustrated pressure would be useless."

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (8th from right), US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (8th from left) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (7th from left) hold the 12th round of China-US high-level economic and trade consultations in Shanghai from Tuesday to Monday. Photo: Xinhua

Past three months

China has been ramping up efforts to avoid systemic risks and shoring up employment levels, issuing a series of policies. But Beijing has so far refrained from using the big-hitter policy tools such as lowering lending and deposit rates.

China's GDP grew 6.3 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2019, slowing from 6.4 percent in the first quarter but falling within the annual target set by Chinese policymakers and surpassing those of other global economies.

The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Tuesday signaled China's adherence to a more effective fiscal and monetary policy that is neither too tight or loose.

China will not use its real estate market to provide a short-term stimulus to the economy, the committee said.

On June 1, China slapped tariffs on $60 billion worth of US products in response to the US decision to raise tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods. 

In the meantime, China is arming itself to better safeguard the legal interests of Chinese companies. 

The Ministry of Commerce said May 31 that the country will introduce an unreliable entity list to submit foreign companies to legal, administrative punishments if they boycott or cut off supplies to Chinese companies for non-commercial purposes. The list is being formulated.

Chinese authorities also suspect US package delivery company FedEx of violating the law by not shipping packages ofthe tech company Huawei, the Xinhua News Agency reported July 26. A probe continues into the company.

Zhang Monan, principal investigator of the institute of American and European studies at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said a key hurdle blocking negotiations was the US blended national security issues with trade issues and neither of the two sides will back down on national security. 

Zhang said since the talks fell apart in May and the US placed tariffs on $200 of billion Chinese goods, the Chinese government has been adopting a more active stance domestically and globally. Such efforts including the rolling out of the 2019 negative list for foreign investment to advancing the 2021 deadline for cancelling foreign shareholding limits in the financial sector to 2020.

"It used to be typically the US acts and then China reacts. After May, China is seen acting. This is nothing short of a strategic remake," Zhang said.


Newspaper headline: Trade talks ‘constructive’