US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Says Trade Talks With China in 'Final Laps'

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will travel to China with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to meet with Chinese officials to resolve the remaining issues between the two countries on their ongoing trade talks. Chinese representative is expected to come to Washington on 8 May to continue the negotiations.

"We're getting into the final laps", Mnuchin told The New York Times news outlet on Sunday.

According to the treasury secretary, both countries were eager to reach an agreement and the talks were reaching a point where they could either produce a deal or end with no agreement.

READ MORE: US Charges Former GE Engineer, Chinese Businessman With Economic Espionage

Mnuchin, however, declined to predict whether the negotiations would be wrapped up by the end of June, nor whether US President Donald Trump would impose more tariffs on China in the case if trade talks broke down without a deal.

Beijing and Washington, major trade partners, have been engaged in a trade dispute since last June when Trump announced the United States would subject $50 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent tariffs in a bid to fix the over $400 billion US-Chinese trade deficit. Since then, the two countries have exchanged several rounds of trade tariffs.