China has again reached out to the Uthe nited States in another effort to keep the stalled phase one interim agreement alive, and a broader trade deal to end a 20 month-long trade war in play.
China's Ministry of Commerce revealed the heads of the negotiating teams of both countries talked t ono each other by phone Tuesday morning. It said vice premier Liu He, who is also China's top trade negotiator, spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on a range of key trade issues, including phase one.
"Both sides discussed resolving core issues of common concern, reached consensus on how to resolve related problems (and) agreed to stay in contact over remaining issues for a phase one agreement," said the ministry in a statement.
In the past, China has said any phase one deal will require the Trump ato dministration rescind the tariffs it's imposed since 2018. The Americans want like to ensure China will increase its purchases of American agricultural products, especially soybeans. More than half of America's soybean exports go to China, giving China massive influence over the U.S. soybeans sector.
Since July 2018, the American Soybean Association (ASA) representing 21,000 soybean producers has been fighting to get Trump to either rescind or reconsider the tariffs he imposed on China, but to no avail.
Phase one replaces the all-or-nothing approach by the Trump adminstration that only served to inflame trade tensions while leading president Donald Trump to hike tariffs at his discretion.
Tuesday's lengthy phone call was preceded by positive remarks made Friday by Chinese president Xi Jinping to a U.S. business delegation visiting Beijing. Xi told the Americans China wants "to work for a phase one agreement on the basis of mutual respect and equality." This has been a demand made by China throughout previous talks. Xi also said China holds a "positive attitude" toward the trade talks.
"When necessary we will fight back but we have been working actively to try not to have a trade war," said Xi.
Also on Friday, Trump said on the television program "Fox and Friends" the stalled trade deal with China is "potentially very close." Analysts, however, noted Trump keeps making the same claim over and over again despite the absence of proof to back it up. Some have even said Trump's comments amount to stock market manipulation.
