Chinese Economic Chief to Visit Washington for Trade Talks

(Bloomberg) — Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser plans to visit Washington for follow-up trade talks after Trump administration officials traveled to Beijing last week, according to the White House.

President Donald Trump was briefed this morning by members of the U.S. delegation led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who returned to Washington on the weekend from a two-day visit to China, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Monday. Sanders didn’t elaborate on the status of the discussions.

Liu He will travel to Washington next week, she said. Liu was recently promoted to vice premier and is Xi’s top deputy on economic matters.

“The president has a great relationship with President Xi and we are working on something we think will be great for everybody,” Sanders said in Washington. “China’s top economic adviser, the vice premier, will be coming here next week to continue the discussions with the president’s economic team. We will keep you posted as the discussions are ongoing.”

Mnuchin’s delegation wrapped up two days of talks with Chinese economic officials on Friday with only an agreement to keep talking. Trump’s has threatened to impose tariffs on as much as $150 billion in Chinese goods, duties that can be imposed after a public comment period ends May 22.

The two sides appear to be at loggerheads, with both making long lists of demands the other won’t meet, analysts say. Trump wants China to cut its annual trade surplus with the U.S. by at least $200 billion by the end of 2020 and refrain from retaliation against proposed U.S. tariffs. China wants the U.S. to stop an investigation into the country’s acquisition of sensitive American technologies.

Liu told American business leaders while visiting Washington earlier this year that he’d take steps to reform China’s economy, according to a person familiar with the situation. Liu said at the time that he had three requests for the Trump administration: Establish a new economic dialogue, name a point person on China issues and hand over a specific list of demands, the person said.

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