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Beijing Seeks More Trade Talks Before Signing Trump's 'Phase One' Deal - Reports

© REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque U.S. President Donald Trump poses for a photo with China's President Xi Jinping before their bilateral meeting during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019
 U.S. President Donald Trump poses for a photo with China's President Xi Jinping before their bilateral meeting during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019 - Sputnik International
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After months of unsuccessful talks, Washington and Beijing have finally achieved some progress, agreeing on a so-called "Phase One" accord on trade, covering US concerns regarding the manipulation of exchange rates and China's purchases of American agricultural products.

China is seeking to hold another round of talks with the US by the end of the month before President Xi Jinping decides to sign a recently reached "Phase One" agreement on trade, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. Beijing reportedly wants to use new talks to "hammer out the details" of the new agreement, before inking it.

Beijing could send Vice Premier Liu He to work out the final arrangements on the "Phase One" agreement and to negotiate with Trump on scrapping not only this week's tariff hike, which Washington promised not to implement, but also one scheduled for December. According to Bloomberg's sources, the finalised agreement could be signed by Donald Trump and Xi Jinping during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which will be taking place on 16 and 17 November 2019.

The report comes in light of President Donald Trump announcing that China has already started purchasing "large quantities" of US agricultural products even before signing the recently reached "Phase One" agreement. He noted that it was one of the preconditions for reaching this deal in the first place.

On October 11, Trump announced that the "Phase One" agreement with China had been reached, bragging it was the "greatest and biggest deal ever made" for US farmers, citing upcoming large purchases by China. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in turn, noted that the agreement will address Washington's concerns related to foreign exchange rate issues. He, however, refused to elaborate on whether China's designation as currency manipulator would be rescinded.

The agreement, if it is successfully inked in coming months, will be the first major success in US-China trade talks in months. The two countries already came close to signing a trade deal in May that would have put an end to the trade war, initiated by the US in 2018, but its signing was foiled. Trump claimed that the deal never came to life due to Beijing trying to make last-minute amendments to it.

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