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China, US trade chiefs hold first talks under Biden administration
The Office of the US Trade Representative said in a statement that Tai raised "issues of concern" during the telephone conversation, although it did not elaborate what kind of matters she touched on.
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Katherine C. Tai speaks during the Senate Finance committee hearings to examine her nomination to be United States Trade Representative, with the rank of Ambassador, on February 25, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Agence France Presse/Bill O'Leary/Pool)
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ice Premier Liu He, China's chief trade negotiator with the United States, and his US counterpart Katherine Tai spoke by phone Thursday for their first talks under the administration of US President Joe Biden.
The Office of the US Trade Representative said in a statement that Tai raised "issues of concern" during the telephone conversation, although it did not elaborate what kind of matters she touched on.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry, meanwhile, said Liu and Tai confirmed that the development of bilateral trade is "very important" and agreed that the two countries will continue communicating.
Both China and the United States said their trade chiefs talked in a "candid" manner.
Bloomberg News quoted a person familiar with the planning for the discussion as saying working-level phone talks took place on Tuesday, during which China stressed the importance of tariff rollbacks as a necessary component of the next steps in the relationship.
As the two major powers remain at odds over several issues such as Beijing's alleged human rights abuses, China has been taking measures recently to prevent bilateral ties from deteriorating further.
Earlier this month, China decided to extend a tariff exemption for dozens of products imported from the United States, including rare earth ore, gold ore and medical disinfectant.
Such products have been exempted from the additional tariffs China imposed on US imports to retaliate against the United States for escalating a bilateral trade dispute. China has also extended exemptions for other US items.
In February 2020, a "phase one" trade deal between China and the United States under then-President Donald Trump took effect, which requires their chief negotiators to discuss the development of the agreement every six months.
But Sino-US trade talks had stalled since August last year.
Trump urged China's Communist-led government to rectify its alleged unfair business practices, especially regarding intellectual property violation, technology theft, and provision of opaque benefits to state-owned companies.
