China's Vice Premier to visit US for trade negotiations

Beijing: The Chinese Commerce Ministry on Tuesday confirmed that Vice Premier Liu He will visit the US for a new round of negotiations aimed at resolving the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing.

The talks are slated to take place on Thursday and Friday, reports Efe news.

In a statement published on its website, the Ministry confirmed that Liu will meet US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Liu led the Chinese delegation to Washington last month and had also met President Donald Trump, although it is unknown if they will meet again this time.

The upcoming talks will be the fourth round of high-level negotiations between the two countries, and will end one week before the deadline to seal a final agreement on March 1.

Although the Chinese official media said there was "significant progress" during the last round, which ended on February 15 in Beijing, no concrete results have been made public.

Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to a 90-day truce on December 1, 2018, which temporarily suspended the increase from 10 per cent to 25 per cent of American tariffs on Chinese products worth $200 billion.

Trump did not rule out that the deadline could be extended.

The US President said that if China and the US reach a point where they clinch a deal, talks could continue beyond March 1.