China's Xi In Message To Trump Expresses Hope For Early Trade Talks Conclusion - Statement

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th April, 2019) Chinese leader Xi Jinping in his message to US President Donald Trump expressed hope for an early conclusion of negotiations on a trade agreement between Beijing and Washington, the official statement read on Friday.

On Friday, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He met with US President Donald Trump in Washington. The statement on the results of the talks between the two officials read on Friday that He had passed Xi's oral message to Trump during their negotiations.

According to the statement, as cited by the Xinhua news agency, Xi expressed hope that "the teams of the two countries on trade and economic issues will continue taking into account the concerns of both sides on the basis of mutual respect and will conclude the negotiations on the text of the agreement as soon as possible.

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The statement added that Xi had noted significant progress on key aspects of the trade deal.

China and the United States have been engaged in a trade dispute since last June, when Trump announced the United States would subject $50 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent tariffs in a bid to fix the US-Chinese trade deficit. Since then, the two countries have exchanged several rounds of trade tariffs.

The two countries are currently involved in the talks on a new trade agreement and have both cited progress in their negotiations.