US-China Trade Deal Review Postponed

The review of the trade deal between the United States and China, tentatively scheduled for Saturday, would be postponed due to scheduling issues, and no new date had been agreed, familiar  sources said.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He were expected to meet via virtual conference today, the six-month anniversary of agreement’s entry into force, yet, the meeting was postponed.

A source familiar with the talks said the delay was due to the fact that senior Communist Party leaders were holding continuous meetings in the coastal town of  Beidaihe, adding that exact dates for the party's conference, which usually takes place in August, have not been published.

The source said that the postponement did not reflect any fundamental problem in the trade agreement, adding that the new date has not been confirmed yet.

China lags far behind the pace of US export purchases needed to meet first-year targets for large increases in purchase commitments.

The deal forces China to buy $77 billion more than in 2017 this year, and $123 billion over the 2017 estimates in 2021.

U.S. officials indicated that they are satisfied with the pace of Chinese purchases in recent weeks and have no plans to abandon the trade deal, which includes increasing access to US companies in China, strengthening intellectual property protection and removing some agricultural & trade barriers.

The trade deal emerged as the only way to stability amid trade war between the US and China due to the Coronavirus pandemic, human rights crackdowns, sanctions on Chinese companies and mobile applications.