China’s commerce minister Zhong Shan has on Tuesday said the ongoing trade talks between the United States and China negotiation delegation to de-escalate a trade deficit, went “extremely difficult” due to a large difference between the two sides.
According to Sputnik news reports, Shan said that the US and Chinese working teams were continuing consultations as several questions remained unresolved.
Shan told reporters: “During the last 90 days, the sides held three rounds of talks at the high level. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He has recently visited the United States for the talks as the head of a Chinese delegation. The process of consultations was extremely difficult and time-consuming. Due to the difference in state systems, culture and the stages of development the two countries are very different.”
The statement has come after Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, has on February 25 said that the result of the latest round of trade talks between US and China gave reason to hope Washington and Beijing would soon achieve a stability in their bilateral cooperation and relation.
In a tweet, the US President Donald Trump, after the talks, wrote he would opt to delay a hike in tariffs on Chinese goods worth $200 billion, originally scheduled to be in effect by March 1.
He also said he would plan a conference with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in order to reach an agreement in order to put an end to trade standoff, “assuming both sides make additional progress”.