The United States And China Engage In A New Set Of Trade Talks, But President Trump Announces A Tariff Of 10 Percent On $300 Billion Worth Of Chinese Imports -

On July 30, 2019, the United States and China opened a new round of trade negotiations designed to improve the two countries’ trade relationship. The talks were the first face-to-face negotiations between the countries since President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in June to re-start stalled trade talks. The talks -- attended by United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin -- were intended to re-build trust between the two countries.

The talks began with the expectation that both countries would undertake conciliatory gestures to reduce tensions. Specifically, at the talks, China was expected to agree to increase its purchases of U.S. agricultural commodities, the United States was expected to remove or reduce U.S. export restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., and China was expected to agree to improve its protection of intellectual property rights of non-Chinese companies. Although these issues have been addressed in prior talks between the United States and China, both sides entered the new round of talks without a draft agreement to work from.