The Trump administration has invited Chinese officials to restart trade talks, the White House’s top economic adviser said, as Washington prepares to further escalate the U.S.-China trade war with tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, Reuters reports.
Larry Kudlow, who heads the White House Economic Council, told Fox Business Network that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had sent an invitation to senior Chinese officials, but he declined to provide further details.
“There’s some discussions and information that we received that the Chinese government – the top of the Chinese government wished to pursue talks,” Kudlow said. “And so, Secretary Mnuchin, who is the team leader with China, has apparently issued an invitation.”
Two people familiar with the effort said Mnuchin’s invitation was sent to his Chinese counterparts, including Vice Premier Liu He, the top economic adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping, for talks in coming weeks.
The invitation comes amid a swelling chorus of opposition to tariffs from Western business circles.
On Thursday, the U.S. business lobbies AmCham China and AmCham Shanghai published a joint survey showing that the negative impact on U.S. companies in China of tit-for-tat tariffs Washington and Beijing have imposed on one another was “clear and far reaching”.
More than 60 percent of U.S. companies polled said the U.S. tariffs were already affecting their business operations, while a similar percentage said Chinese duties on U.S. goods were having an impact on business.
AmCham China and AmCham Shanghai urged the Trump administration to re-think its approach.
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China released its own survey on Thursday saying the tariffs were causing “significant disruptions” to global supply chains and “seriously impacting” non-Chinese and non-American companies.
A day earlier, more than 60 U.S. industry groups launched a coalition - Americans for Free Trade - to take the fight against the tariffs public.
Asian shares advanced on Thursday on hopes that a deal could be struck in the bitter tariff dispute between the world’s two largest economies. In China, the yuan jumped and stocks rose.
The Trump administration is preparing to activate tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, hitting a broad array of internet technology products and consumer goods from handbags to bicycles to furniture. It was unclear whether any U.S.-China talks would delay the duties.