China Welcomes Trump's Move to Save Firm

Vice premier is visiting US to cool trade dispute
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 14, 2018 7:32 AM CDT
China Sending Envoy to Cool US Trade Dispute
A salesperson stands at counters selling mobile phones produced by ZTE Corp. at an appliance store in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province.   (Chinatopix Via AP, File)

China said Monday it is sending an envoy to the United States this week for talks aimed at cooling a trade dispute that threatens to upend markets from soy beans to steel, and welcomed comments by President Trump hinting at a possible easing of sanctions on embattled Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE. The Foreign Ministry says Vice Premier Liu He will visit the US from Tuesday to Saturday for consultations with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Ministry spokesman Lu Kang also said China appreciated tweets by Trump saying he would help ZTE Corp. get "back into business" because too many jobs in China are at stake after the US government cut off access to its American suppliers.

Liu's trip to Washington follows a visit by Mnuchin and other US officials to Beijing earlier this month, where they conveyed a demand that China slash its trade surplus with the US by $200 billion by the end of 2020, the AP reports. An intensifying rivalry over advanced technology has also fueled demands by Washington that China give up policies that favor domestic companies. Beijing considers such programs as fundamental to its state-driven economic model and vital for its future growth. America's trade deficit with China amounted last year to $337 billion in goods and services.

(More China stories.)

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