Chinese and US officials wrapped up their second day of talks in New York on Monday to discuss artificial intelligence, investment and trade as they sought to advance negotiations ahead of President Xi Jinping’s visit to the US this week. Bloomberg’s Stephen Engle reports.
Let’s get live to Washington now. Our chief North Asia correspondent, Stephen Engel is with us. So obviously, the mood music has been broadly positive, uh since we had the first round of talks and uh the drum beat ahead of the leaders’ talks. There‘s clearly still a a a lot of tensions that may not be resolved.
Oh, absolutely. There’s a long laundry list. I think what they’re trying to find now is some common ground where they can agree uh to the deliverables that uh both presidents on Thursday will be able to announce. So, they’re not necessarily tackling the the the most contentious issues right now. Uh that’s why the question about extending this uh trade truce is so critical right now. And Jameson Greer talked about it. Uh essentially, you know, US trade representatives or any trade negotiator always wants leverage. and Jameson Greer wants leverage. So, when we’re talking about when to do that extension, if at all, and how long will that extension last. What we’re hearing from Jameson Greer is that three to six month extension is something that the United States is looking at instead of a full year, where my sources and our sources in China are saying, the Chinese government would sort of like a two-year extension to give a longer runway and more certainty as Anne Marie’s point points out. But again, that is leverage from the Chinese side. They will start with two-year demand and work work it down. Jameson Greer, I’m not going to speak for him, but I would assume that when he’s saying, you know, three months because we really want to make sure that China is in compliance on their commitments for agricultural purchases and also those export licenses for critical rare earths, uh a three-month timeline or maybe up to six months would be more advantageous to make sure there is pressure on the Chinese to fulfill their obligations. But again, it’s negotiating. Maybe they both come down and it’s another one-year extension sometime in November.
