Anticipation Mounts For Trump-Xi Summit As US-China Talks Near End

The White House on Thursday stoked anticipation President Donald Trump could announce a summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to finalize a trade agreement resolving their nine month-trade war

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2019 ) :The White House on Thursday stoked anticipation President Donald Trump could announce a summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to finalize a trade agreement resolving their nine month-trade war.

Both US and Chinese officials have projected cautious optimism for months but momentum has slowed as the two sides tussle over whether and when Washington should remove the punishing tariffs it imposed last year on Chinese goods.

Chinese trade envoy Liu He is due to meet with Trump later in the day at the conclusion of the latest round of talks, while US officials have said the negotiations are near an end one way or the other.

Trump tweeted earlier that the talks, as well as efforts to ratify a new agreement on North American trade, were "moving along very nicely," renewing the positive mood that officials have projected since January.

Last year, Trump launched a trade war with China, seeking to slash that country's soaring trade surplus with the United States, end alleged unfair trade practices such as the theft of American technology and China's massive state intervention in markets.

Washington and Beijing since last year have imposed slapped tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, biting into their manufacturing sectors as the world economy shows signs of slowing.

China has offered to make sizable purchases of US commodities and taken steps to show they will protect foreign intellectual property.