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China said a U.S. delegation will visit next week for trade talks, confirming the two sides will have their first face-to-face negotiation since President Donald Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to a 90-day truce in their trade war last month.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish will lead the U.S. delegation for the talks on Jan. 7 and 8, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement. Vice ministers from the two countries talked on the phone on Friday, and will discuss how to implement the consensus reached in Argentina when they meet in Beijing, it said. Bloomberg News reported earlier that U.S. officials would head to Beijing the week of Jan. 7
The talks adds to signs that the world’s two largest economies are looking for a way to cool trade tensions. The S&P 500 Index tumbled 2.5 percent on Thursday amid mounting indications that American business is starting to feel the pinch from the trade conflict. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL). plunged the most since 2013 in part due to slowing iPhone sales in China, where the economy has slowed.
Trump reported “big progress” in trade negotiations after a phone call with Xi last week. Beijing also announced a third round of tariff cuts, lowering import taxes on more than 700 goods from Jan. 1 as part of its efforts to open up the economy and lower costs for domestic consumers.
After meeting Xi on Dec. 1, Trump agreed to put on hold a scheduled increase in tariffs on $200 billion in annual imports from China for 90 days while the negotiations take place. In response, China temporarily lowered tariffs on U.S. car imports for the same period.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Miao Han in Beijing at mhan22@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sharon Chen at schen462@bloomberg.net, Brendan Scott
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