By Ryan Hanrahan
Reuters’ David Lawder reported that “top U.S. and Chinese economic officials held ‘remarkably stable’ talks in Paris on Sunday that touched on potential areas of agreement in agriculture, critical minerals and managed trade for U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to consider in Beijing, two sources familiar with the talks said.”
“The Chinese side showed openness to potential additional purchases of U.S. agricultural goods including poultry, beef and non-soybean row crops, one of the sources said, adding that China was still committed to buy 25 million metric tons of American soybeans for each of the next three years,” Lawder reported. “Chinese officials left the talks at OECD headquarters in Paris without speaking to reporters. The discussions follow several meetings to ease tensions last year between (U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott) Bessent, (Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng), U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese chief trade negotiator Li Chenggang.”
“‘All these meetings were to create stability, and today was remarkably stable,’ one of the sources said of the talks,” Lawder reported. “Spokespersons for the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office declined to characterize the discussions on Sunday.”
Trump May Delay Meeting with China’s Xi Jinping
The Associated Press’ Will Weissert reported, however, that “President Donald Trump is suggesting he may delay his much-anticipated visit to China at the end of the month as he seeks to ramp up the pressure on Beijing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and calm oil prices that have soared during the Iran war.”
“In an interview Sunday with the Financial Times, Trump said China’s reliance on oil from the Middle East means it ought to help with a new coalition he is trying to put together to get oil tanker traffic moving through the strait after Iran’s threats have throttled global flows of oil,” Weissert reported. “The Republican president said ‘we’d like to know’ before the trip whether Beijing will help. ‘We may delay,’ he said in the interview.”
Source : illinois.edu