Top representatives of the United States and China are organizing a resumption of talks for next week to try to resolve a year-long trade war between the world’s two largest economies, Trump administration officials said on Wednesday.
PRESIDENTS AGREED TO RELAUNCH TALKS
“Those talks will continue in earnest this coming week,” White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters in a briefing. The principal negotiators on the US side are US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, while China’s top negotiator is Vice Premier Liu He.
The two sides have been in communication by telephone since last weekend, when US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to relaunch talks that had stalled in May.
THE TALKS HAD BROKEN DOWN
Talks between the two sides broke down in May after US officials accused China of pulling back from commitments it had made previously in the text of an agreement that negotiators said was nearly finished.
The United States accuses China of allowing intellectual property theft and forcing US companies to share their technology with Chinese counterparts in order to do business in China. It wants China to change its laws on those and other issues. China denies such practices and is reluctant to make sweeping legal changes.