China hopes to bolster trade talks with US: Xi Jinping


Beijing: China hopes to bolster trade talks with the United States and reach mutually beneficial agreements as soon as possible, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his letter to US President Donald Trump.

The letter from the Chinese president was handed over to Trump by Vice President Liu He, who met for talks with the American leader in Washington.

“I hope our two sides will continue to act in a spirit of mutual respect and win-win cooperation, and step up consultations by meeting each other halfway in order to reach an early agreement that works for the interests of both sides,” the letter from President Xi to Trump reads.

“Such an agreement will send a positive signal to our two peoples and the broader international community,” Xi stated. “It will serve to ensure healthy development of China-U.S. relations and contribute to steady growth of the world economy.”

“Mr. President, if there is anything, you could always approach me through various means,” the leader of China stated. “I hope we’ll keep close contact in various ways. As the Chinese Lunar New Year draws near, my wife and I wish to send our New Year greetings to you, to Melania, and to your family. May you enjoy a happy and prosperous New Year.”

Chinese Vice President Liu He was heading his country’s delegation at the talks in the United States on January 30-31 regarding the bilateral trade.

After the message from the Chinese president was read out at the meeting with Vice President Liu, US leader Trump said: “That’s a beautiful letter and we appreciate it.”

The US president said he was looking forward for the mutual deal to be inked and voiced an intention to meet with President Xi once or twice.

“We’ll be going. And we look forward to that,” Trump said. “And then a little back-and-forth, and ultimately, I know that I’ll be meeting with President Xi, maybe once and maybe twice, and it’ll all seem it seems to be coming together.”

In early December, Trump and Xi met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina, where they had agreed to take steps within a three-month period toward a new trade agreement between China and the United States. The US president stated at that time his decision against hiking tariffs on Chinese goods from 10 to 25% on the total sum of $200 billion, as he previously planned. Both sides agreed at that time that March 1, 2019 would be the deadline to ink the mutually acceptable trade deal or the tariffs would be eventually raised.