US and Chinese officials begin trade talks in Beijing

Anca Alexe 07/01/2019 | 08:10

Officials from the United States and China will begin talks on Monday aimed at resolving the trade dispute between the two countries, the BBC reports.

In 2018, the US and China imposed billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs on each other’s goods and caused major tensions in the global economy. The two-day talks will be the first formal meeting since they agreed to refrain from further tariffs for 90 days.

The meeting’s agenda includes a range of difficult issues. The White House in December said they would negotiate “structural changes with respect to forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft.”

However, experts are sceptical about the possibility of a breakthrough in this week’s talks in Beijing.

So far, the US has imposed tariffs on USD 250 billion of Chinese goods, while China, who has accused the US of starting “the largest trade war in economic history”, retaliated with tariffs on USD 110 billion of US products.