Report : China And US Close to Reaching Major Trade Deal

US-China trade: Negotiators for US and China have made substantial progress and a final trade deal is close to being hammered out, according to news report, which quoted anonymous sources on both sides.

Report : China And US Close to Reaching Major Trade Deal

New York:

The United States and China are on the verge of concluding a major trade agreement that both parties will lower some of the tariffs imposed during a bitter trade war, a report said on Sunday.

Negotiators for both sides have made substantial progress and a final deal is about to be reached, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited anonymous sources on both sides.

An agreement would be welcomed by the financial markets, which have suffered from the often rancorous trade conflict between the two largest economic powers in the world.

The Journal said that last month's talks in Washington helped narrow the differences, which means that a formal deal could be ready when President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping meet at the end of March. , while Mr. Xi is traveling in Europe.

He stressed, however, that there were still some hurdles to overcome and that the Pact would likely lead to complaints from both sides that too much has been done.

The report states that China has tentatively agreed to reduce tariffs or relax restrictions on agricultural, chemical and automotive products, among others.

Chinese negotiators have also proposed speeding up the schedule for removing foreign ownership limits on auto companies and reducing tariffs on imported vehicles to a level lower than the current rate of 15%, according to the Journal.

In order to meet Trump's repeated requests to narrow the America-China trade gap, Beijing would also increase its purchases of US goods, including a possible multi-billion dollar purchase of the Cheniere Energy group. .

In exchange for Chinese concessions, Washington would remove most of the trade sanctions imposed last year, the report said.

The paper quoted analysts as saying that the failure of the Trump summit negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi could have an impact on trade negotiations in two opposite ways.

This could persuade Beijing that Trump is desperately seeking a victory, or that China might take it for the sign that Trump, as his advisers say, is ready to give up a bad deal.