China this week reiterated its position that the U.S. must drop tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods before a trade deal between the two countries is possible.
Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Thursday told reporters that “if the two sides are to reach a deal, all imposed tariffs must be removed,” according to Bloomberg News.
“China’s attitude on that is clear and consistent,” he said at a press conference.
{mosads}An influential blog run by state media reportedly doubled down on those remarks Friday, Bloomberg reported, warning that discussions on a U.S.-China trade agreement would “go backward again” unless the U.S. were to drop all tariffs targeting the country.
U.S. officials who have said that some tariffs on Chinese goods will remain in place even if a deal is reached, as a means of enforcing a potential agreement.
Chinese President Xi Jinping presented President Trump with his country’s demands concerning U.S. tariffs late last month at the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Japan, according to news reports. But both leaders agreed to a truce in the trade war, avoiding an escalation for the time being.
Trade negotiations that began earlier this year fell apart a few weeks ago after U.S. negotiators accused their Chinese counterparts of eliminating some previously-negotiated provisions from a draft of a trade agreement between the two countries.