China Hopes for Tariff Deal Ahead of Trump Xi Meeting

BEIJING - China said Thursday it hopes to reach an agreement with the United States on lowering import taxes soon, fueling expectations that an announcement could come when President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet in Washington on Sept. 24. Commerce Ministry spokesperson Huang Ling told a weekly briefing that negotiators are striving to implement reciprocal tariff reductions on $30 billion worth of goods "at an early date." She did not elaborate. China's official Xinhua News Agency reported that the $30 billion would come from each side. The expected meeting will be the third face-to-face encounter between Trump and Xi in the past year. Both governments characterize the leader-level talks as a way to stabilize relations between the world's two largest economies, whose interests increasingly compete across trade, technology and security. "Leaders diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China-US relations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Thursday. The tariff talks build on an agreement reached when Trump traveled to Beijing in May.