China and the United States are making progress in trade talks

China and the United States have made “new progress” in the trade balance and intellectual property rights talks. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced this today after a telephone conversation between the vice-ministers of both countries.

“On 21 December, China and the United States held telephone meetings at the level of deputy ministers. They exchanged their views on questions such as the trade balance and the strengthening of the protection of intellectual property rights and made new progress”, according to a communication from the Ministry.

China and the US are engaged in a merciless trade war since President Donald Trump started the attack on the Chinese trade surplus with Washington. At the beginning of this month, Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed on a ninety-day file in the margins of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. It is the second telephone call that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce reported this week. On Wednesday, Chinese and American officials had already talked about “economic issues and trade issues”.

Earlier today, the Chinese state media had already reported that the Chinese parliament would prepare a new law on foreign investment. That law would forbid local governments in China to prevent the entry of foreign companies and to force them to transfer technology.