White House top economic adviser Larry Kudlow has started hinting optimistic views of the China-U.S. trade dispute that has disrupted American agriculture and Chinese tech. He said he is hoping for a resolution as the two sides resume talks.
According to Reuters, Kudlow said on Tuesday that the White House is hoping "strongly that China will very soon start buying agriculture products." This could be one of the rare optimistic comments that Kudlow dropped within the year-long dispute.
Kudlow's comments came a day after reports emerged about U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer reportedly scheduled to visit Shanghai early next week. Lighthizer has yet to confirm the news. However, it has raised hopes about a potential resolution for the tensions.
Aside from expressing his hopes for a resolution to the trade dispute between two of the world's largest economies, Kudlow indirectly confirmed that Lighthizer will visit China sometime soon.
Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been in talks with the Chinese trade delegation over the phone. The two U.S. representatives have been emphasizing that China should keep its part of the pledge to purchase more American agricultural produce.
On Sunday, Chinese state media revealed that Chinese exporters have launched applications to purchase U.S. farm products and requested for tariffs to be lifted. Beijing said it will review the applications.
The two sides have been trying to revive talks in hopes of putting an end to the trade war. The expected revival of negotiations came following the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump at the G20 Summit last month.
For his part in the meeting, Xi pledged that China will buy more American agricultural products, while Trump promised to hold off on new sets of tariffs supposedly hitting another billion of Chinese goods.
While Kudlow said there is no guarantee yet that the Chinese side will make purchases, he did say it wouldn't come as a surprise "if we saw a lot of positive news on that coming up."
It is worth noting that Beijing has requested from Washington for restrictions on Huawei to be lifted. While this has yet to be decided, many analysts are expecting the White House to gradually ease up on Huawei restrictions.
Beijing, on the other hand, is expected to approve applications from Chinese enterprises to purchase American farm goods. If both predictions come true, the world may see what could be the greatest breakthrough in two countries setting their differences aside for the greater good.
China and the U.S. have been slapping tariffs on the other since last year. The dispute was escalated in May, shortly after the White House blacklisted China's leading tech company.
