China, US to hold eighth round of trade talks in Beijing

China and the United States will hold the eighth round of high-level economic and trade consultations here from March 28 to 29.

Xinhua quoted Gao Feng, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce as saying that US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were invited to visit China for the talks.

Addressing a press conference, Gao said that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue, was invited also to visit Washington DC for the ninth round of talks in early April.

He further divulged that the two nations have recently held several rounds of talks on phone on economic and trade issues and agreed on holding the eighth and ninth rounds of high-level talks in March and April.

A Trump administrative official on Wednesday had also stated that Beijing and Washington will resume trade talks next week after a pause in negotiations.

Quoting the official, CNN reported that Mnuchin and Lighthizer will be travelling to Beijing for discussions, aimed at finalising a trade deal between the two countries. Subsequently, a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He will then visit Washington for the next round of talks.

Following the previous round of talks, negotiations were put on hold after the two sides broached disagreements regarding the enforcement mechanisms in the final deal, according to CNN.

"China's going very well. China talks going very well," US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday during a joint press conference here with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro.

Both Beijing and Washington are engaged in intense negotiations in the wake of a trade dispute, which would've originally seen the United States substantively increase tariffs on Chinese goods from March 1. Trump has since withheld the tariff increase as talks between the two sides have been promising.

The two countries now hope to reach a final trade deal which will be signed during a late-April summit at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the official added.