Beijing :  Top officials from China and the US will hold talks in Buenos Aires over the trade deadlock between the two giant economies, ahead of the meeting between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

China and the US are currently locked in an ongoing trade war as each country has introduced tariffs on goods traded between each other. Trump has promised to fix China’s “longtime abuse of the broken international system and unfair practices”.

Trump, who is demanding China to cut down USD 375 billion trade deficit, has imposed tariffs on USD 250 billion Chinese exports and threatened to impose tariffs on the remaining USD 265 billion.

Trump and Xi plan to meet in Buenos Aires on the side-lines of G20 meeting on December 1.

Previously, the Chinese vice premier and Xi’s confidant Liu He was planning to fly to Washington for talks with the US delegation led by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The plan had been adjusted after “work-level discussions” between Beijing and Washington, Hong Kong based South China Morning Post quoted a Chinese official sources as saying.

“The latest plan is that the trade negotiation teams of the two countries will meet in Buenos Aires,” the report quoted him as saying.

The change in the plan was partly intended to ensure the talks would have a more direct effect on the meeting between Xi and Donald Trump during the G20 summit, the report said.

The change, if confirmed, suggests that stakes will be raised for the leaders’ meeting with more weighty matters likely to be on the agenda.

It will also mark for the first time that bilateral trade negotiations between the world’s two biggest economies have taken place in a third-party country, the report said.

The progress of the scheduled trade talks will have a direct effect on the meeting between Xi and Trump.

The Post had previously reported that the two state leaders will meet for a dinner on December 1 immediately after the end of the G20 meeting at Trump’s invitation.

PTI

18/11/2018