China demands US to roll back tariffs in phase one trade deal: Report

According to Chinese local media report, Beijing is insisting US tariffs must be rolled back as part of phase one trade deal with Washington. Yet it is still uncertain whether the countries will settle for a deal at all. In a tweet, the report added that a US pledge to scrap tariffs scheduled for December 15 cannot replace the rollbacks of tariffs, referring to an additional round of tariffs on Chinese imports to be implemented in the absence of a trade deal. The publication is the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party. Earlier on November 26, Trump said Washington was in the "final throes" of a deal aimed at defusing the trade war with China. The same was reiterated by negotiators who aimed to dissolve the tensions. 

Read: Trump Says First Phase Of Trade Deal With China Is In 'final Throes'

Earlier in November, Xi Jinping told the media, “As we always said we don’t want to start the trade war but we are not afraid. When necessary we will fight back but we have been working actively to try not to have a trade war. We want to work for a Phase 1 agreement on the basis of mutual respect and equality”. 

Read: Asian Shares Higher Amid Hopes For US-China Trade Deal

Beijing invited US officials for discussions on negotiations

The phase one agreement might not be signed this year quoted trade experts and people close to the White House last month. The officials earlier expected to come to a deal by November end. Beijing invited US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for in-person talks in Beijing said US Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley told reporters on November 26. He added that Lighthizer and Mnuchin were willing for negotiation if they saw "a real chance of getting a final agreement". US officials could travel to China after Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, said an official to the agency.

Read: China’s Xi Says Beijing Wants Trade Deal, Can ‘fight Back'

China has retaliated with tariff hikes on US imports. US President Donald Trump on November 19 warned China that without a trade deal it may face more tariffs. He said that if the US doesn't make a deal with China, then he threatened to increase the tariffs even higher. Trump administration has been asking China to curb massive subsidies to state-owned firms and end the forced transfer of American technology to Chinese firms as a price of doing business in China. The phase 1 deal fails to address the aforementioned issue of industrial subsidies and rather focuses on Chinese purchases of US farm goods and intellectual property protection related to copyright and trademark issues as mentioned by trade analysts to media. Charles Boustany, a former congressman from Louisiana and counselor at the National Bureau of Asian Research, said that China will anyway continue to do what it's doing and the deal will just be the status quo. Moreover, inconsistencies in China’s new foreign investment law will fail to fulfill the benefits of increased access to China’s financial services market, they added. 

Read: Trump Warns China Of Higher Tariffs In Case Of No Trade Deal