Chinese Vice Premier Describes Latest Trade Talks With Washington As Productive

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who held a meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday, has described the latest round of trade negotiations between the two countries as productive and said that progress has been made in a number of areas

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd February, 2019) Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who held a meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday, has described the latest round of trade negotiations between the two countries as productive and said that progress has been made in a number of areas.

On Thursday and Friday, Liu attended high-level trade consultations with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

"Over the past two days of consultations, the teams on trade and economic issues have held productive talks, managed to achieve positive progress on a number of areas of cooperation, including the trade balance, agriculture, technology transfers, intellectual property protection, financial services," Liu was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency.

The vice premier has also communicated an oral message from Chinese President Xi Jinping to Trump.

"I hope that both sides will continue to move toward each other on the basis of mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation and will be able to reach a mutually beneficial [trade] agreement," Xi said in a message.

The US leader, in turn, also noted that the two sides had made huge progress during the latest round of bilateral trade negotiations.

The two countries now have less than a week left to work out a trade agreement before the 90-day trade truce, called by Trump and Xi last December, ends on March 1. A summit between the two presidents is set to become an important part of the talks. However, it is unlikely to be held before the end of the deadline, as Trump said on Friday that the meeting could take place in his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in mid-March.