Despite Trump's Claim, China’s Commerce Ministry Says Trade Talks With US Will Be Held Soon

The U.S. and China have agreed to the resumption of trade discussions in the next few days, according to the Chinese Commerce Ministry.

Talks that were expected to be held over the past weekend were postponed and President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that he had ‘canceled’ any talks with China over their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, early Thursday in Beijing, China said both sides will hold the “discussion over the phone” seven months after the economic superpowers signed a historic phase 1 trade deal.

Ministry spokesman Gao Feng did not provide further details, Reuters reported.

Under the phase 1 deal, the U.S. agreed to scale back tariffs on various Chinese imports in exchange for China purchasing greater amounts of U.S. manufacturing and agricultural goods over the next two years.

However, since the deal was signed, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and China’s imposition of security laws in Hong Kong, among other issues, have soured relations between Beijing and Washington. The two countries have slapped each other with sanctions, while Trump has repeatedly blamed China for spreading the virus.

On Tuesday at a campaign event in Arizona, Trump even suggested he might pull out of the trade deal. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had also asserted that no new high-level trade talks between the countries were scheduled.

In addition, purchases by China of U.S. goods have fallen well below planned targets as mandated by terms of the phase 1 pact.

However, as China’s economy has recovered from the initial impact of the virus, it appears to have speeded up purchases of U.S. products.

Greg Gilligan, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said “there is absolutely commitment and progress that [Chinese buying of U.S. imports is] occurring,” reported Bloomberg.

“Both sides recognize that this is really the glue that is holding the relationship together,” Gilligan added. “So that’s a reason for some optimism in an otherwise pretty bleak scenario in the larger relationship.”