Liu holds talks with US trade reps 
2019-11-04
TOP Chinese and US trade negotiators have “reached consensus on principles,” China’s commerce ministry announced in a statement on Saturday.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue, spoke on phone with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin on Friday, and “conducted serious and constructive discussions on properly addressing their core concerns and reached consensus on principles,” according to the statement.
The two sides discussed the next consultations,” the ministry said.
US and Chinese negotiators had made “enormous progress” toward finalizing the phase one agreement, although the deal was not yet 100 percent complete, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters.
Lighthizer and Mnuchin moved forward on a range of issues during their call with Liu He, and were working to resolve outstanding issues, USTR said in a statement.
The talks are set to continue at the deputy level.
“The deal is not completed, but we made enormous progress. We’re beyond where we were last spring, so I’m going to play that from the optimistic side,” Kudlow told reporters.
Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan, Governor of the People’s Bank of China Yi Gang, and Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Ning Jizhe also joined the talks.
