Washington
The United States and China have delayed a review of their Phase 1 trade deal initially slated for Saturday, sources familiar with the plans told Reuters, citing scheduling conflicts and the need to allow time for more Chinese purchases of US exports.
No new date for the initial six-month compliance review between US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, US Treasury Secretary Stevenmnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He has been agreed, the sources said. The officials were expected to hold a videoconference on Saturday, the six-month anniversary of the trade deal’s February 15 entry into force as the coronavirus pandemic began spreading globally.
One source familiar with the talks said the delay was related to a conference of senior Communist Party leaders at the seaside town of Beidaihe on China’s northeast coast. The postponement did not reflect any substantive problem with the trade deal, the source said, adding: “The new date has not been finalised yet.”
US President Donald Trump on Friday repeated his view that the trade deal was “doing very well,” but did not comment on the delayed meeting. The White House referred queries on the talks to Lighthizer’s office, which did not respond to a Reuters query about plans for the review. Another source familiar with the plans said that US officials wanted more time to allow China to increase purchases of US goods agreed in the deal, to improve the political optics of the review. China’s imports of US farm and manufactured goods, energy and services are well behind the pace needed to meet a first-year target increase of $77bn over 2017 purchases.
But as China’s economy has recovered from a coronavirus lockdown earlier this year, purchases have increased. On Friday, the US Department of Agriculture reported the sale of 126,000 tonnes of soybeans to China, marking the eighth consecutive weekday with large sales to Chinese buyers.—Agencies
