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China denies it offered package to slash US trade gap by $200bn

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BEIJING: China denied on Friday that it had offered a package to slash the US trade deficit by up to $200 billion, hours after it dropped an anti-dumping probe into US sorghum imports in a conciliatory gesture as top officials meet in Washington.


US officials had said in Washington on Thursday that China was proposing trade concessions and increased purchases of American goods aimed at cutting the US trade deficit with China by up to $200 billion a year.


“This rumour is not true. This I can confirm to you,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing.


“As I understand, the relevant consultations are ongoing and they are constructive,” he said, adding that he could not elabourate on the specifics of the negotiations.


Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is in Washington this week for talks with US officials led by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin aimed at heading off a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.


Earlier on Friday, China announced that it was ending its sorghum investigation, which had effectively halted a trade worth roughly $1.1 billion last year.


“The imposition of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on imports of sorghum originating from the United States would have a widespread impact on consumer living costs, and does not accord with the public interest,” the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.


Getting to a $200 billion reduction of the US-China trade deficit on a sustainable basis would require a massive change in the composition of trade between them, and the news had been met with scepticism from economists.


The US goods deficit was $375 billion last year.


One US source said earlier US aircraft maker Boeing Co would be a major beneficiary of the Chinese offer to narrow the trade gap if Trump were to accept it. Boeing is the largest US exporter and already sells about a quarter of its commercial aircraft to Chinese customers.


Another person familiar with the talks said the package may include some elimination of Chinese tariffs already in place on about $4 billion worth of US farm products including fruit, nuts, pork, wine and sorghum.


A White House statement described the meetings as part of “ongoing trade discussions” and said Trump met the Chinese delegation led by Liu and the US team led by Mnuchin. — Reuters


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