By David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer held “candid” talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on trade issues during an introductory meeting, Greer’s office said as U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to raise tariffs on Chinese imports further.
Greer outlined Trump’s trade policy goals in the video conference with He, USTR said, describing them as aiming to promote domestic investment and productivity, enhance U.S. industrial advantages, protect American workers and defend economic and national security.
He also expressed serious concerns about what he called China’s unfair and anticompetitive trade policies and practices, the statement said, describing the talks as “candid”.
China’s Xinhua news agency reported that He expressed “solemn concerns” over U.S. tariffs and Trump’s planned “reciprocal” duties.
Xinhua also described the call as a “candid and in-depth” exchange of views on key economic and trade issues, adding that they agreed to maintain communications.
The call came as Trump prepares to impose reciprocal tariffs next week, a move widely expected to slap more duties on Chinese goods. The tariffs are aimed at matching trading partners’ duty rates and counteracting non-tariff barriers to U.S. goods.
Trump has imposed a new 20% levy on all Chinese imports since taking office in January, accusing Beijing of not doing enough to stem the outflow of chemical precursors used to produce the deadly opioid fentanyl.
China retaliated by imposing targeted tariffs of up to 15% on some U.S. goods ranging from oil and liquefied natural gas to agricultural products and farm equipment.
The tit-for-tat measures added new strains to relations between the two major powers that have already sunk to historic lows in recent years due to issues ranging from trade and technology curbs to Taiwan. (This story has been corrected to fix the reference to the Chinese Vice Premier’s quoted statement to say raised ‘solemn concerns’ over U.S. tariffs and U.S. planned reciprocal duties, not that China planned reciprocal duties, in paragraph 4)
(Reporting by David Lawder, Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu in Washington and Ethan Wang, Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Katharine Jackson and Alison Williams)
