U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, second from left, and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, fourth right, attend a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China Sunday, Jun 3, 2018. Andy Wong/Pool via REUTERSBEIJING - 9 January 2018: Chinese and U.S. teams ended trade talks in Beijing on Wednesday that lasted longer than expected and officials said details will be released soon, raising hopes an all-out trade war that could badly disrupt the global economy can be avoided.The talks were extended into an unscheduled third day, showing both sides were “serious”, China’s Foreign Ministry said.Share prices jumped in Asia and markets in Europe and the United States were expected to follow suit as the lengthened talks fueled optimism that the world’s largest economies were inching toward an agreement.Ted McKinney, U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, said the U.S. trade delegation would return to the United States later on Wednesday after a “good few days”.“I think they went just fine,” McKinney said of the talks. Beijing has retaliated in turn to U.S. tariffs.But as meetings wound down in Beijing on Tuesday evening, Trump tweeted: “Talks with China are going very well!”The U.S. team is led by Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish, and includes under secretaries from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy and Treasury, as well as senior officials from the White House.Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen heads the vice ministerial level talks for China, though Vice Premier Liu He, a top economic adviser to Xi, made an appearance at a meeting on Monday.China is keen to put an end to its trade dispute with the United States but will not make any “unreasonable concessions” and any agreement must involve compromise on both sides, state newspaper the China Daily said on Wednesday.The paper said in an editorial that Beijing’s stance remains firm that the dispute harms both countries and disrupts the international trade order and supply chains.In what is widely seen as a goodwill gesture, China on Tuesday issued long-awaited approvals for the import of five genetically modified crops, which could boost its purchases of U.S. grains as farmers decide which crops to plant in the spring.On Monday, Chinese importers made another large purchase of U.S. soybeans, their third in the past month.

Source: Egypt Today January 09, 2019 08:26 UTC