Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said in Geneva on Sunday that the China-US high-level meeting on economic and trade affairs were in-depth, candid and constructive, according to Xinhua News Agency.
He, the Chinese lead person for China-US economic and trade affairs, made the remarks when briefing the press following the high-level meeting with the US side.
Substantive progress has been made and a series of major consensuses have been reached as China and the US have taken important step to resolve differences through equal dialogue and consultation, the Chinese vice premier said.
China and the United States have also agreed to establish an economic and trade consultation mechanism, He said.
China and the US, He said, will finalize relevant details as soon as possible and release on Monday a joint statement reached during the talks.
Through joint efforts of both sides, the talks were fruitful, said He, adding that it is an important step towards resolving differences through equal dialogue and consultation, and has laid the foundation and created conditions for further bridging differences and deepening cooperation.
Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday that the outcome of the talks, including the setup of a mechanism to address issues of mutual concern, will pave the way for future talks on trade and economic topics.
The trade talk will also address concerns from the market, which has been in jittery mode since the US imposed the so-called reciprocal tariffs in earlier April, Gao said.
Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Monday that “candid”, which is among the adjectives used in the press readout, carries special meaning for the important trade talk widely watched by the world, adding it is the foundation for the two sides to carry out meaningful engagement and future trade talks.
Chinese Vice Premier He said on Sunday that China and the US share extensive common interests and broad space for cooperation, and economic and trade relations between the two countries are mutually beneficial and win-win in nature, according to Xinhua.
As two major countries with different development stages and economic systems, it is normal for China and the US to have differences and frictions in economic and trade cooperation, He said, stressing that the key is to take the important consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries as guidance and find proper solutions to the problems based on principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.
There are no winners in a trade war, He said, adding that China does not want a trade war, but is not afraid of one. If the US side insists on infringing upon China’s rights and interests, China will resolutely retaliate and play along, He said.
He also called on the two sides to follow a practical attitude for solving problems, carry out candid dialogues and equal consultations, manage differences, explore cooperation potential, extend the list of cooperation list, and make the pie of cooperation bigger, so as to push for new development in China-US economic and trade relations, and inject more certainty and stability into the world economy.
The trade talk has been closely watched by global media.
Investors have welcomed the conciliatory tone at US-China trade talks this weekend aimed at cooling a trade war between the world’s two largest economies and dispelling some of the uncertainty clouding financial markets, though few expect a major breakthrough just yet, Reuters reported on Monday.
Beijing and Washington have both hailed the progress made at the end of a weekend of closed-door discussions in Switzerland aimed at de-escalating trade tensions, according to the Aljazeera.
US stock futures has risen up after both sides reported progress in US-China trade negotiations, the CNN reported.
“As two of the most important trading partners in the world, trade between China and the US is both huge in size and affects many other countries, the consensus reached from this meeting signals the two sides are seeking to achieve a certain level of stability in trade and economic matters, instead of skidding further toward confrontation,” Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Monday.
The setup of an economic and trade consultation mechanism will offer a platform for the two sides to iron out specific issues in the future, and the progress made in the Geneva talk will offer a vital respite to global trade now facing huge uncertainties due to US tariffs, Zhou said, noting the meeting will inject stability to the world economy.
Chinese stocks opened higher on Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.33 percent to open at 3,352.97 points. The Shenzhen Component Index opened 0.92 percent higher at 10,220.33 points.
Global Times