U.S. negotiators are preparing to press China next week on longstanding demands that it reform how it treats American companies’ intellectual property in order to seal a trade deal that could prevent tariffs from rising on Chinese imports.
A new round of trade talks begins in Beijing on Monday, following up on the most recent set of negotiations concluded in Washington last week without a deal and with the top U.S. negotiator declaring a lot more work needed to be done.
The White House announced a timeframe for the Beijing talks in a statement. It said lower level officials will kick off the meetings on Monday, led on the American side by Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish.
Higher principal-level talks will take place Thursday and Friday with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The sides are trying to hammer out a trade deal weeks ahead of a March deadline when U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are scheduled to increase to 25 percent from 10 percent.
Trump said on Thursday he did not plan to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping before the March 1 deadline, dampening hopes that a trade pact could be reached quickly.
