The key facts

  • The first meeting of the US-China Trade Council was held via videoconference under the bilateral trade consultation mechanism
  • Discussions covered tariffs, the mutual tariff-reduction scheme
  • tags

First meeting of the new mechanism

The United States and China held the first meeting of the Trade Council in a videoconference format, China's Ministry of Commerce reported, according to Anadolu. The meeting took place under the bilateral economic and trade consultation mechanism. According to the Chinese agency, the sides

What the sides discussed

The agenda included tariffs, the mutual tariff-reduction scheme described as

Washington's position

Separately, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the Trump administration is creating a US-China trade council to develop bilateral trade in non-sensitive goods. According to the American side, the initiative is intended to benefit American farmers, ranchers, fishermen, small businesses, manufacturers, and workers. At the same time, Washington emphasized that substantial tariffs will remain in place to counter what it calls China's unfair trade practices, but balanced trade in certain sectors could give bilateral economic relations greater stability.

Context

The talks are taking place against the backdrop of Washington and Beijing trying to manage trade tensions while maintaining economic interaction between the world's two largest economies. The meeting was the first under the new council; no specific outcomes or next steps were mentioned in the sides' statements.