The United States and China, the superpowers who are currently leading the world’s economy, have been revealed to have set resumption of their trade talks in a few days. The Chinese commerce ministry states that the discussion will be held over the phone, where the two parties will be reviewing their progress in terms of the “phase one” trade deal signed in January.
Earlier agreements to resume the talks have been postponed due to scheduling conflicts, according to Reuters. The U.S. Treasury and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative spokespersons, however, have not yet been reached for comments.
During the first half of the year, China has bought less than a quarter of the agreed target amount of U.S. goods according to data from Peterson Institute for International Economics. The trade agreement has stated that China will have to purchase a total addition of $63.9 billion in agriculture, energy, and manufactured products while adding $12.8 billion more services than data from the year 2017.
Both Chinese and U.S. data will be used to determine the meeting of the requirements, as the two statistics often vary due to differences in the data collection method.
By 2021, China should be purchasing an additional $98.2 billion worth of the three goods mentioned above and $25.1 billion in services on top of the 2017 levels. China has so far not reached even a quarter of the set amounts for 2020. However, it is not likely that the two countries will void the deal, as increased tensions and renewing tariff fights against China will only hurt the U.S. economy further.
Earlier scheduled for the talks, which was initially set on Saturday, were also said to be moved to allow more time for Chinese purchases of U.S. exports. The eastern superpower has been recovering sufficiently from the coronavirus lockdowns, and purchases have been increasing.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the eighth consecutive weekday with significant sales to Chinese buyers. Trump administration officials have since signaled their satisfaction over the deals’ pace, implying that the U.S. does not have any plans to abandon the trade deal.
The U.S. and China trade deal has caused the pausing of a damaging trade war between the two superpowers as tensions have increased outside economic issues, encompassing areas such as the origin of the coronavirus and national security concerns.
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