China Says Existing US Tariffs Must Be Removed for Trade Deal

China’s Commerce Ministry Spokesman Gao Feng announced the condition in a regular media briefing on Thursday, almost a week after Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart, Donald Trump, met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan and agreed to re-launch stalled trade negotiations, Asia News reported.

Gao also welcomed Trump’s decision not to slap new tariffs on Chinese goods, as Trump agreed not to put tariffs on about $300 billion in additional Chinese imports and ease curbs on Chinese tech giant Huawei.

The US and China, the world’s two-largest economies, are in the midst of a year-long trade war, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says could cut the global economic output by 0.5 percent, or about 455 billion dollars, next year.

US trade war with China remains in high gear as Washington hiked tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods in mid-May, threatening to slap tariffs of up to 25 percent on an additional list of Chinese imports, worth about $300 billion. China’s tariffs targeting $60 billion of American imports took effect in early June as part of a tit-for-tat response to Washington’s trade war.

It all started last June, after the Trump administration slapped 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods in a bid to address the trade deficit, prompting Beijing to respond in time. Since then, the sides have exchanged several rounds of trade duties.

The two sides have also unsuccessfully held several rounds of negotiations to settle the issue. The talks were stalled in May after the US officials accused Beijing of reneging on commitments made in the text of a pact negotiators had said was nearly finished. China has rejected the allegation.

The US government also hit Huawei Technologies with severe sanctions, with Trump issuing an executive order that added the company and its 70 affiliates to a trade blacklist, thereby restricting its activity in the US. American companies hence require permission before trading with the telecom giant. The move was followed by US tech giants, including Google, Intel, Qualcomm, Xilinx, and Broadcom cutting ties with Huawei.

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