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The
discussion in a telephone call comes amid escalating tension
between the countries, exacerbated by a war of words over U.S.
criticism of China's handling of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
U.S. President Donald Trump and other top officials have blamed
China for the deaths of hundreds of thousands from the outbreak
and have threatened punitive action, including possible tariffs
and shifting supply chains away from China.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin agreed
during the call that the two countries would work together to
create a favourable environment for implementing the Phase 1
trade deal reached this year, China's commerce ministry said.
The U.S. Trade Representative's office said both sides "also
agreed that in spite of the current global health emergency,
both countries fully expect to meet their obligations under the
agreement in a timely manner".
The negotiators also agreed that "good progress" was being made
on creating governmental infrastructures to make the Phase 1
trade deal a success, the U.S. office said.
Under the deal, China agreed to increase its purchases of U.S.
goods from a 2017 baseline by $200 billion over two years, with
about $77 billion in increased purchases in the first year and
$123 billion in the second year.
But the coronavirus, which emerged in China late last year, has
dealt a sharp blow to Chinese demand and its economy is only
starting to recover.
The two countries will continue to hold required meetings under
the trade agreement via conference call on a regular basis, the
U.S. office said.
(Reporting by Roxanne Liu, Huizhong Wu and Lusha Zhang in
Beijing, Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru ; writing by Se Young Lee;
Editing by Murali Anantharaman)
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