The nearly yearlong trade war between the U.S. and China that raised the prices on billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese goods may be nearing an end.
Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said Saturday that the U.S. and China were close to finishing their trade talks and indicated that a deal could be announced soon. Trump administration officials have been involved in ongoing talks with their Beijing counterparts to a reach a deal.
“I think we’re hopeful that we’re getting close to the final round of concluding issues,” Mnuchin told reporters Saturday in Washington, D.C. He said administration officials, including U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, would have a pair of conference calls this week with Chinese negotiators to clear up the remaining issues and that they were “discussing whether more in-person meetings are necessary.”
“We are making progress, I want to be careful. This is not a public negotiation … this is a very, very detailed agreement covering issues that have never been dealt with before,” he said.
Mnuchin declined to elaborate on what had been agreed to. “I don’t want to get into the details of the negotiations, specifically on tariffs,” he said.
The two countries are trying to wrap up things up but the talks have dragged on due to issues relating to enforcement of the deal, whether the U.S. can impose tariffs on China for any violations, and whether the U.S. will lift its existing tariffs of 10%-25% on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods.
