
BLOOMBERG/XAUME OLLEROS
The White House is looking at rolling out a previously agreed currency pact with China as part of an early harvest deal that could also see a tariff increase next week suspended, reported Bloomberg.
The currency accord—which the US said had been agreed to earlier this year before trade talks broke down—would be part of what the Trump administration considers to be a first-phase agreement with Beijing.
Additionally, the pact would be followed by more negotiations on core issues like intellectual property and forced technology transfers.
The internal deliberations come as a team of Chinese negotiators, led by Vice Premier Liu He, is expected in Washington to resume trade talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The window for such an agreement is closing before the US plans to raise duties to 30 per cent from 25 per cent on about $250 billion of Chinese imports on 15 October 2019 and additional duties are set to take effect 15 December 2019.
A Chinese official said that the country was still open to reaching a partial trade deal with the US that may include large purchases of American commodities but added that success was contingent on President Donald Trump halting further tariffs.
Still, Trump, this week said he preferred a complete trade agreement with China.
No details were made public about the US-China currency pact reached in February that Mnuchin at the time called the ‘strongest’ ever. Broader trade negotiations between the two countries broke down in May 2019 after the US accused China of backtracking on its commitments, later in August the Trump administration formally declared China a currency manipulator.
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