China Hints at Possible Trade Talks Restart With U.S.
Chinese state media Xinhua hinted at possible negotiations with the United States after several “goodwill” moves made by Beijing, Bloomberg reported on Monday, July 22.
The news comes as some Chinese companies reportedly appealed to the U.S. exporters in order to buy agricultural products from the country. Moreover, Xinhua News claimed that they were also seeking exemptions from tariffs on the goods.
According to Chinese state media, these are the signs of China’s “goodwill”. Both Xinhua and Taoran Notes, a blog run by other Chinese official newspaper Economic Daily, believe that the U.S. attempt to allow local companies to trade with Huawei is a sign of a thaw in US-China relations.
This Monday Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and economic adviser Larry Kudlow are set to meet with representatives of Huawei tech suppliers to discuss the possible exemptions. The list of companies attending the meeting includes Qualcomm, Broadcom, Intel and Micron.
On May 16, the U.S. administration added Huawei to a list of companies that are banned from supplying telecommunication gear to U.S. firms.
On May 20, Google supported the ban, suspending parts of its business which require the exchange of hardware or software and technical services with Huawei. However, the users who own Huawei devices are still able to use and download app updates provided by Google.
However, later that month the U.S. Commerce Department introduced a license for smartphone companies and internet providers to continue working with Huawei 90 more days. The move was made to maintain the existing networks and to protect users from security risks.
