U.S. and Chinese officials are meeting in Washington for a second day to prepare trade negotiations next month in the trade war that has cast a shadow on growth.
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But expectations have remained modest, with both sides indicating there is little too maneuver on the key sticking points over Beijing’s industrial and technology policies.
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U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the Fox Business Network on Thursday, that it remained unclear what China wanted and that “we will find out very, very shortly in the next couple of weeks.”
“What we need is to correct the big imbalances, not just the current trade deficit,” Ross said. “It’s more complicated than just buying a few more soybeans.”
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In an unexpected twist, some members of the Chinese delegation will stay in the United States to visit U.S. farming regions next week.
The thirteenth round of high-level negotiations is scheduled to take place in D.C. next month.
President Trump said last week a deal would not happen unless it was a good and fair agreement for the U.S.
“We cannot go back to a situation where [the U.S.] giving hundreds of billions of dollars to China becomes standard fare. Not going to happen,” he said before a crowd during a rally in North Carolina.
In a gesture of goodwill, Trump recently made the decision to delay a new round of tariff increases on $250 billion worth of goods from China, which were scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1. The increases will take effect on Oct. 15, instead.
These increases will follow the new round of tariffs that went into effect on goods from both countries at the outset of September. The U.S. implemented tariffs worth 15 percent on a host of goods from China, a decision that was met with countermeasures.
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China subsequently filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), asking it to facilitate “consultations” with the U.S. to reduce or end tariffs.
The countries were close to striking a trade deal in the spring, but the Chinese ultimately decided not to move forward because of some of the demands the U.S. was making. Since then there has been little progress toward reaching a comprehensive agreement.
FOX Business’ Brittany De Lea contributed to this article.
