Picture: Washington’s continued escalation of tariff threats has led to reduced consumer spending in the United States, which is like shooting a stone in the foot. File photo

[Ta Kung Pao News] China recently announced that at the invitation of the United States, Liao Min, deputy director of the Central Finance Office and Vice Minister of Finance, plans to lead a delegation to visit the United States on the 18th to negotiate with the United States on Sino-US economic and trade issues in preparation for the 13th round of China-US high-level economic and trade consultations to be held in Washington in October. According to Reuters, representatives from China and the United States will meet on the 19th and 20th local time in the United States. On the morning of the 19th, a Chinese delegation of more than 30 people headed by Liao Min will go to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in Washington to participate in negotiations. The U.S. delegation is expected to be headed by Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Gerrish. Sources said the two sides will focus on agricultural issues including agricultural product procurement.

According to Reuters: One week before the vice-ministerial consultation, China and the United States had shown goodwill gestures by purchasing each other’s agricultural products and delaying the imposition of tariffs. On the 12th, China Central Broadcasting Network issued an international critical commentary stating that on the eve of this round of consultations, China and the United States each took measures to express goodwill and sincerity to each other, and used practical actions to move in the same direction, creating a favorable condition for promoting substantive progress in the consultations, which is in line with the expectations of the international community and deserves recognition.

Chuanhua purchases another 260,000 tons of soybeans

Following recent reports that a number of private Chinese companies purchased more than 600,000 tons of U.S. soybeans this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on the 17th that private exporters sold 260,000 tons of soybeans to China for shipment in the 2019/20 marketing year. During an interview on the 19th, U.S. Commerce Secretary Ross admitted that China-U.S. economic and trade issues are far more complicated than the "soybean procurement matter."

After the heads of state of China and the United States reached the Osaka Consensus in June, the two sides held the 12th round of high-level economic and trade consultations in Shanghai in July. They originally planned to hold a new round of economic and trade consultations in Washington in early September. However, the United States subsequently violated the consensus reached at the Osaka meeting between the Chinese and US presidents and announced new tariffs on goods imported from China. The first round of tariffs was implemented on September 1. China took simultaneous countermeasures and filed a lawsuit against the United States under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism on September 2.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative officially confirmed on August 28, local time, that the additional tariffs on US$300 billion worth of Chinese goods exported to the United States will be increased from 10% to 15% in two phases on September 1 and December 15. The USTR stated that a 15% tariff will be imposed on some Chinese goods exported to the United States starting from September 1, and the remaining products including mobile phones and laptop computers will be subject to a 15% tariff starting from December 15.

China urges the United States to withdraw all tariffs to curb the trade war

On August 23, China announced that it would impose additional tariffs ranging from 10% to 5% on 5,078 tax items and approximately US$75 billion (approximately HK$585 billion) of goods originating in the United States. The tariffs will be implemented in two batches from 12:01 on September 1, 2019, and 12:01 on December 15, 2019. China emphasizes that this move is a forced move in response to US unilateralism and trade protectionism. China's Ministry of Commerce stated on August 29 that China's countermeasures are sufficient. What should be discussed now is the cancellation of further tariffs on US$550 billion of Chinese exports to the United States to prevent the trade war from continuing to escalate.

US President Trump issued a document on the morning of September 12th, Beijing time, announcing that he would postpone the increase in tariffs (from 25% to 30%) on US$250 billion of Chinese goods exported to the United States from October 1st to October 15th. The day before, China announced the first batch of exclusion lists for goods imposed tariffs on the United States and Canada to minimize the impact of economic and trade frictions on enterprises in China. It involves 16 items in two lists and will be implemented from the 17th. CCTV commentary pointed out that the purpose of the exclusion list is to minimize the impact of economic and trade frictions on enterprises in China, reflecting China's consistent calmness and rationality in dealing with economic and trade frictions, and its high responsibility to enterprises and the people.