A Chinese delegation, led by Vice Premier Liu He, met in Washington with a US team led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, as well as Larry Kudlow, a key White House economic adviser, and Peter Navarro, a trade adviser.
The world’s two biggest economies are locked in a trade war that US President Donald Trump started over his allegations that China deploys predatory tactics to try to overtake US technological dominance. Beijing’s unfair tactics, trade analysts agree, include pressuring American companies to hand over trade secrets and in some cases stealing them outright.
To try to force China to change its ways, Trump has imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions in Chinese goods.
Beijing has retaliated with tariffs of its own. China rejects the allegations and complains that Washington’s goal is simply to cripple a rising economic competitor.
