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China and the United States are locked in an increasingly bitter
trade war, with both countries have already placed tariffs on
some of each others imports.
Meeting a group of Republican senators and one congresswoman in
Beijing, Li said that over the past four decades of diplomatic
ties, the China-U.S. relationship has had its "share of ups and
downs".
"The sound and stable growth of China-U.S. relations serves the
common interests and the fundamental interests of the people of
our two countries," Li said.
"We do hope that China and the United States will meet each
other halfway and work together in the spirit of mutual respect
and equality," he added.
"In this way, our two countries will be able to overcome
differences and have the wisdom to overcome the obstacles and
move our relationship forward on an even sounder track."
Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander told Li that the delegation
was there "to show our respect to a great country and a great
people".
"Your country and our country are competitors but not
adversaries. And we believe that with mutual respect we can
continue to prosper together."
Alexander said he would be discussing trade with Li, though
neither of them mentioned the ongoing tariff war in remarks in
front of reporters.
U.S. President Donald Trump has long threatened to impose
tariffs on all $500 billion-plus goods imports from China if
Beijing fails to meet his demands for sweeping changes to its
policies on intellectual property, technology transfers,
industrial subsidies and local market access.
But Trump has not "set in stone" any decisions on escalating
tariffs on Chinese goods and may withdraw some duties if there
are promising policy discussions with China, White House
economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Wednesday.
Both Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due to attend
the G20 summit in Argentina which starts at the end of this
month, and could hold talks there.
Trump said in a television interview on Monday he thinks there
will be "a great deal" with China on trade, but warned that he
has billions of dollars worth of new tariffs ready to go if a
deal isn't possible.
The United States has already imposed tariffs on $250 billion
worth of Chinese goods, and China has responded with retaliatory
duties on $110 billion worth of U.S. goods.
(Reporting by Joseph Campbell; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing
by Simon Cameron-Moore)
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