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China and the US concluded a new round of trade talks in Shanghai on Wednesday following a hiatus of almost three months, with little immediate evidence of progress being made toward ending their year-long dispute.
US delegates including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer wrapped up talks with their Chinese counterparts including Vice Premier Liu He Wednesday afternoon at the Xijiao State Guest Hotel, a leafy compound of luxury reception buildings and accommodation in the west of the port city, according to a pool report. The US delegation was headed to the airport, the report said.
The two governments may release statements on the talks later Wednesday. S&P 500 futures slipped from their highs.
The talks took place against a backdrop of a fresh outburst by US President Trump, who as delegates gathered Tuesday let fly at China’s perceived unwillingness to buy American agricultural products and said it continues to “rip off” the US. Relations between the delegates appeared cordial in Shanghai, according to the pool report.
“Based on what I know the atmosphere is good,” Global Times’ editor-in-chief Hu Xijin earlier said in tweet, without citing any sources.
The Americans arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday and attended a dinner at the Fairmont Peace Hotel in the evening. A person familiar with the event described the atmosphere at the dinner as being all about rapport building without substance on negotiations.
The People’s Daily, mouthpiece of the Communist Party, responded to Trump on Wednesday with a commentary saying that China has no motive to “rip off” the US and has never done so, and China won’t make concessions against its principles on trade.
China Factories
Expectations for a breakthrough in the trade talks have been low. The two sides are further apart than they were three months ago, when negotiations broke down and each side blamed the other for derailing attempts to reach a deal. China is pushing for compromise in the talks, with state media underlining this week that the US should meet it “halfway.”
Data released Wednesday showed the outlook for China’s manufacturing sector brightening slightly, though the sector is still contracting. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 49.7 in July, led by better conditions for large companies. The below-50 reading still signals contraction, though is better than the median estimate of 49.6 in a survey of economists. The non-manufacturing gauge fell to 53.7.
China’s leadership on Tuesday announced priorities for economic policy in the second half of the year, pledging to tackle ongoing tensions over trade “effectively” while offering incremental additions to stimulus policies. A statement released by the Politburo late Tuesday didn’t elaborate on the trade policies.
At the Fairmont Peace Hotel, US delegates were hosted at a dinner at the landmark of jazz-era Shanghai on the city’s riverside Bund, in a marked change of atmosphere from the previous Beijing encounters.
Shanghai is mainland China’s financial capital and its busiest port. The Peace Hotel’s setting in the former International Settlement, which the US helped manage during a period of foreign interference that the Communist Party has vowed never to repeat, is also freighted with the complicated history of America’s relationship with China.
