China says Beijing, Washington should 'join hands' to create conditions to push trade deal

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Thursday, 21 October, called on the US to “join hands” to create conditions to promote China-US economic and trade agreement. According to ChinaDaily, Shu Jueting, spokesperson of China’s MOC, noted that Phase-1 of the economic and trade agreement between Washington and Beijing can be mutually beneficial as well as benefit the rest of the world. Speaking at a media briefing, Jueting said that China would welcome a move by the United States to start a targetted tariff exclusion process while keeping open the potential for additional exclusion processes. 

“China always believes lifting additional tariffs is in line with the interests of consumers and producers in both countries and also is good for global economic recovery," Jueting said. 

Further, the spokesperson went on to say that the economic and trade teams of the two nations have been maintaining normal communication, and the MOC will release news on any new information. Jueting also delineated Beijing’s key tasks to grow its trade in services during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. 

The MOC spokesperson informed that the tasks include deepening reform and expanding opening-up, accelerating digitisation, optimising industry structure and regional layout, supporting market players, and enriching cross-border cooperation. Jueting also went on to say that the plan has included digital trade for the first time to align with the development trend of digitised, internet-based and intelligent services trade. 

China-US Phase-1 agreement 

Meanwhile, coming back to the US-China Phase-1 deal, it is to mention that earlier this month, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai discussed the possible lifting of sanctions and tariffs during an online conversation. The first part of the US-China Economic and Trade Agreement was signed in January 2020. The agreement obligated Washington to keep taxes equal to 25% for Chinese foods worth $250 billion a year, as well as those equal to 7.5% for goods worth $120 billion. Additionally, as per the deal, Beijing must also purchase American industrial goods worth $75 billion, energy carriers for $50 billion, agricultural goods for $40 billion and also spend $35-40 billion on services within the two-year period.    

(Image: AP)