China willing to reach agreement with U.S. - Vice Premier Liu He
- by Emilio Sims
- in Money
- — Oct 11, 2019
It remains to be seen what deals - or lack of them - might result, however for the moment it appears markets have settled on a cautious optimism.
"The ongoing back-and-forth continues to offer opportunities to fade over-reactions in the market", said Ian Lyngen, the head of US rates at BMO Capital Markets. "We are not aware of a change in the Vice Premier's travel plans at this time", a White House spokesperson told CNBC.
The Trump administration on Monday evening added 28 Chinese companies to its entity list, barring them from doing business with the U.S. In addition, the administration restricted visas for Chinese officials and said it was considering limiting government pension fund investments in China and that it would form a "study group" to review Chinese listings on U.S. stock exchanges. Those include laws around intellectual property theft and the forced transfer of foreign technology.
China's vice-premier, Liu He, is leading the delegation in negotiations with the United States trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, and the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin.
Earlier in the week, firebrand White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told NPR that Trump was uninterested in half measures, showing "steely resolve" instead.
Top negotiators are scheduled to continue discussions through Friday, despite reports on Wednesday that China could depart Washington earlier than planned.
"The Chinese side came with great sincerity, willing to cooperate with the USA on the trade balance, market access and investor protection", Xinhua quoted Liu as saying on Thursday.
Currently, the Trump administration is looking at introducing this previously agreed upon currency accord with China as part of the trade deal that could also see a tariff increase suspended next week, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The benchmark stock index, however, reclaimed most of the lost ground over Wednesday and Thursday as Beijing and Washington's continued willingness to talk supported hopes that the latest talks would yield at least a partial deal. Earlier this year, the White House had banned sales to the Chinese tech giant, citing national security concerns.
"This is the emotional roller coaster that we have to strap in for while these negotiations get hashed out", Jeff Kilburg, the CEO at KKM Financial, said in an email.
Trump's announcement sent U.S. stocks surging, helping erase much of the losses from earlier in the week and calming fears after an overnight news report said the Chinese side could leave early given the slim progress in preliminary talks. The move soured the tone of the lower-level talks, which were meant to set the table for an actual trade agreement later in the week.
Tom Block, Fundstrat Washington research strategist, said the latest affront to China was the USA imposition of visa restrictions on some officials believed to be involved in the detention and human rights abuses of Uighur Muslims and other minority groups.
Beijing is planning to tighten visa restrictions for USA nationals with ties to anti-China groups, sources said.
The New York Times reported that the USA is considering making concessions to China including issuing licences to U.S. companies allowing them to supply non-sensitive components to Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.