US sources say it is not clear if China’s message contains concessionsTrump calls for concrete proposals to address US demands
China has sent a written response to US demands for wide-ranging trade reforms, sources in Washington said on Wednesday, a move that could lead to negotiations to bring an end to a trade war between the world’s biggest economies.
US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on US$250 billion of Chinese imports in an effort to force concessions from Beijing on his list of demands that would change the terms of trade between the two countries. China has responded with import tariffs on goods from the US.
Trump is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Argentina at the end of the month.
The US president has repeatedly railed against Beijing over intellectual property theft, industrial subsidies, Chinese entry barriers to American businesses and the US trade deficit with China.
Three US government sources said that China had sent a response to US demands on those and other issues.
It was unclear if the response contained concessions that would satisfy Trump’s demands.
A US Treasury team discussed trade with their Chinese counterparts on Tuesday, a Treasury spokesman said on Wednesday.
Washington had said it would not start formal negotiations on trade until it saw concrete proposals from China to address its concerns.
