Beijing is hopeful about its next round of trade talks with the US, China's vice minister for commerce said Saturday, after revealing that top negotiators had tried to hammer out a deal over burgers and eggplant chicken.
China and the United States have been locked in a bruising trade war since last year, imposing tit-for-tat tariffs on more than USD 360 billion in two-way trade, which has left global markets reeling.
Top-level negotiators have met thrice in an attempt to reach an agreement ahead of next week, when additional tariffs could be levied on Chinese goods entering the US as a truce period expires.
"When you ask about the prospects for the next Sino-US economic and trade consultation, I feel that there is hope," Vice Minister for Commerce Wang Shouwen told journalists at a press briefing on the sidelines of China's National People's Congress.
He added that Beijing's top economic official Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer held talks over a packed lunch of burgers and eggplant stir-fried with chicken -- a common Chinese dish -- in Washington last month.
"Vice Premier Liu ate a beef burger, and Lighthizer ate eggplant and chicken (with rice)," Wang said.
"Throughout the consultation process, there was coffee and tea... but both drank plain water."
"The (whole process) is open and provides important legal protection for foreign investors."
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