Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said a new consensus has been reached between China and the U.S. on the text of a trade agreement that they are negotiating, according to official state news website Xinhua.
Liu led a delegation to Washington this week to meet with U.S. officials for another round of high-level negotiations as the two sides seek to end a potentially devastating trade conflict. On Thursday, Liu met U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House’s Oval Office.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, through a message conveyed by Liu, told Trump that both sides have made new and substantial progress on key issues regarding trade in the past month, according to Xinhua. Xi said he hopes both sides will continue to work together to conclude talks on the trade text as early as possible, Xinhua reported.
Trump said on Thursday that “we’ll know over the next four weeks” if the two countries have a deal.
Greater China markets are closed on Friday.
The U.S. and China — the two largest economies in the world — are engaged in a tariff fight that started last year. The Trump administration imposed additional tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports, while Beijing slapped duties on $110 billion of American goods.
Representatives from both countries have been meeting to address their differences on issues such a trade imbalance and alleged forced technology transfers from American firms to their Chinese partners. Tensions between the U.S. and China have roiled global markets and hit economic activity worldwide.
— CNBC’s Jacob Pramuk and Kayla Tausche contributed to this report.
