China pledges to expand US imports, IP protection for deal to end trade war

The latest round of China-US trade talks made important progress and Beijing has agreed to make key concessions to expand American imports in agriculture, energy, manufacturing and services, the main demand of President Donald Trump, official media reported on Friday.

The two sides had candid, specific and constructive discussions, state-run Xinhua quoted the Chinese delegation as saying.

Guided by the important consensus reached by the two countries' heads of state in Argentina, the two sides discussed the topics of trade balance, technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), non-tariff barriers, service sector, agriculture and enforcement mechanism, as well as certain issues of particular concern for the Chinese side, it said.

The Chinese delegation said that creating a market environment of fair competition goes in line with the general direction of China's reform and opening-up, and therefore the Chinese side will actively address relevant US concerns.

The two-day talks in Washington on January 30-31 were led by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, with the participation of dozens of senior officials from both the governments.

The White House said in a statement that the two sides had made progress but that "much work remains to be done."