The last Friday’s telephone talks between US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Vice-Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Liu He did not lead to progress in resolving trade disputes.
Citing well-informed sources, the Wall Street Journal reported that the talks concerned measures that could lower trade tensions on the eve of the meeting of the PRC and the United States leaders. The meeting was scheduled for the end of November 2018.
In September of this year, the United States imposed 10% tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. The White House warned that by January 1, 2019, the tariff would increase to 25% if the Celestial Empire did not make concessions. At the same time, China imposed new tariffs on $60 billion of US goods. Previously, the parties mutually raised tariffs for $34 billion of products.
