China: Relatively big disagreements with US on trade remain

Chinese and American officials have wrapped up the first round of talks on the trade dispute, with Beijing saying disagreements over some issues remain a challenge.

The Chinese government said the two sides had reached a consensus on some aspects of the row, but disagreements over other issues remained "relatively big."

The Chinese side was led by Vice Prime Minister Liu He, while US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin headed the visiting American delegation, which included Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, White House trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

"China and the United States reached agreements on some issues in their economic and trade consultations in Beijing from Thursday to Friday, and agreed to set up a work mechanism to keep close communication,” Xinhua reported after the meeting in Beijing.

“The two sides agreed that a sound and stable China-US trade relationship is crucial for both, and they are committed to resolving relevant economic and trade issues through dialogue and consultation,” it added.

US President Donald Trump has targeted China's trade surplus with the United States. He recently demanded a $100-billion annual reduction in the $375-billion US trade deficit with China.

Both sides recognized that given the huge gap between where the two sides stand, continued hard work is required for more progress, according to the Chinese news agency.

Media reports said the main differences between Beijing and Washington were divided into eight separate categories.

The US demands from China ranged from reducing US-China trade deficit by at least $200 billion to the protection of intellectual property rights, as well as resolving tariff and non-tariff issues.

China’s demands included giving Chinese companies equal treatment as others, opening its e-payment market to Chinese companies, lifting the imposed tariffs on Being, removing bans against Chinese firms such as ZTE Corp, and dropping all complaints against China by the US at the WTO Tribunal.

PressTV-China to WTO: Put US tariff "beast back in the cage"

China calls on WTO members to unite to prevent the United States "wrecking" the WTO.

Washington's complaints at the WTO against China's alleged intellectual theft are at the core of a looming trade war.

Trump's administration claims that US companies lose hundreds of billions of dollars annually to China's theft of trade secrets.

"As long as China remains the assembly hub of the world, it's always going to have a large trade surplus with developed consumer countries like the US and .. and that's not necessarily a problem," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics.

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