China commits to ‘significantly increase purchases’ of US products but no mention of $200bn cut to its trade surplus
The United States and China have reached consensus on measures to “substantially” reduce the US trade deficit with Beijing, but there was no mention of the $200bn target previously touted by the White House.
The joint US-China statement on Saturday followed talks in Washington led by US treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, and China’s state council vice-premier, Liu He, who also met the US president, Donald Trump, on Thursday.
“There was a consensus on taking effective measures to substantially reduce the United States trade deficit in goods with China,” the statement said.
“To meet the growing consumption needs of the Chinese people and the need for high-quality economic development, China will significantly increase purchases of United States goods and services.”
Beijing and Washington agreed they would keep on talking about measures under which China would import more commodities from the US to close a $335bn annual trade gap between the two countries that has threatened to ignite a global trade war.
A report by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency described the statement from the two governments as “vowing not to launch a trade war against each other”.
A commentary published by Xinhua on Sunday called the statement a “good example of win-win”, noting that it would help America reduce its trade deficit by increasing exports to China and allow China to diversify and raise the quality of its imports.
