WASHINGTON, Aug 30 — President Donald Trump said US and Chinese trade officials were due to hold discussions today, days before Washington is due to raise tariffs on billions in Chinese goods.
“There’s a talk scheduled for today at a different level,” Trump told Fox News Radio, without elaborating.
He rebutted prior news reports sceptical of his claims that Beijing and Washington held talks by telephone last week.
“Yes, they’ve been talking,” he said.
The US Trade Representative’s office, which is leading the US negotiations with China, did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Earlier today, China’s Commerce Ministry helped cheer stock markets by signalling that Beijing may not respond in kind to Trump’s latest tariff increases and were still willing to negotiate.
Earlier this week, Chinese officials appeared to dispute Trump’s claims that the sides had held telephone calls, saying they were not aware of any communications.
After a sharp deterioration this month in the year-long trade war, Washington on Sunday is due to begin the first of a new wave of tariff increases on Chinese goods, drawing warnings from various industries about falling profits and recession from trade groups.
Trump earlier this month called for 10 per cent tariffs on US$300 billion (RM1.26 trillion) in goods that would hit September 1 and December 15. But after Beijing retaliated by targeting US$75 billion in US exports, Trump raised the new tariffs to 15 per cent.
In addition, existing 25 per cent duties on US$250 billion in Chinese products will rise to 30 per cent starting October 1. — AFP
