China and the United States are seeking an early agreement to reduce tariffs on US$30 billion (£23bn) worth of goods from each side, raising the prospect of a deal being announced when Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet later this month.
Chinese commerce ministry spokeswoman Huang Ling said negotiators were working to put reciprocal tariff cuts into effect “at an early date”, without providing further details.
The discussions are expected to feature prominently at the planned summit in Washington on September 24, where the US president and Chinese leader are due to hold their third face-to-face talks in the past year.
Beijing said the proposed reductions would cover equivalent amounts of non-sensitive goods, as part of wider efforts to stabilise relations between the world’s two largest economies.
“Leaders’ diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China-US relations,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
The tariff negotiations form part of an agreement reached by Mr Trump and Mr Xi at their previous meeting in Beijing in May to establish a US-China Board of Trade. A parallel Board of Investment is also planned.
The arrangements followed a sharp escalation in the trade dispute, after Mr Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports to extremely high levels and Beijing responded with its own measures.
Trade is expected to be at the centre of the Washington summit, with the current tariff truce due to expire on November 10. Barclays said targeted tariff reductions were more likely than a broad trade agreement, given the limited scope for a comprehensive settlement.
Gary Ng, a senior economist at French bank Natixis, said the overall impact could be smaller than in previous years because China and the US had already reduced their reliance on one another for trade.
He said the proposed arrangement could nevertheless benefit the US more because US$30 billion represents about 28 per cent of American exports to China, compared with roughly 10 per cent of Chinese exports to the US.
