Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators reportedly are set to talk as early as next week about progress on a phase-one deal after President Donald Trump threatened to “terminate” the pact if Beijing wasn’t abiding by the terms.
Bloomberg reported Thursday that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will be on the call. The United States will be represented by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the news outlet reported.
If the call goes through, it would be the first time Liu and Lighthizer speak officially about the agreement since it was signed in January — just before the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on economies across the globe.
On Sunday, in response to a question at a town hall from a business owner who said he was losing money on the tariffs, Trump said the deal calls for China to buy $250 billion worth of U.S. goods.
“Now they have to buy,” the president said, Bloomberg reported. “And if they don’t buy, we’ll terminate the deal, very simple.”
Relations between the United States and China have deteriorated since America became one of the hardest-hit by the coronavirus. Trump has blamed China for misleading the world about the scale and risk of the disease. China’s foreign ministry has accused some U.S. officials of trying “to shift their own responsibility for their poor handling of the epidemic to others,” Bloomberg reported.
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