China, US to sign off phase one of trade deal

Next week, Chinese Vice Premier and the country’s top negotiator Liu He will travel to Washington DC to sign off “phase one” of the trade deal with the United States.

There have been delays in the negotiations as tensions were heightened between the world’s two biggest economies as they exchanged tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods in their two-way trade.

The Chinese commerce ministry confirmed that Liu He would be in the US for three days.

Last week, US President Donald Trump announced the two countries had come to an agreement to sign off the first part of the deal, with China yet to confirm.

Commerce ministry spokesperson Gao Feng said at a weekly news briefing: “At the invitation of the US, Liu He will be leading a delegation to Washington from January 13 to January 15 to sign the phase one deal.”

“Both parties are in close communication regarding the detailed arrangement of the signing.”

US and Chinese officials have said the agreement includes protections for intellectual property, food and farm goods, financial services and foreign exchange, and a provision for dispute resolution.

Plans to impose tariffs on $160 billion in Chinese merchandise in mid-December were cancelled by Trump, but punishing tariffs remain on about $250 billion worth of goods, including machinery and many electronic items.

Trump said that he would travel to Beijing for negotiations on the next part of the deal “at a later date”, but Gao said he had “no further information on phase two” of the negotiations.

(Compiled by Molefe Seeletsa)

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