Washington must remove all punitive tariffs it has imposed on Chinese goods if the two nation are to reach a trade deal, Beijing said today.
China's Ministry of Commerce claimed that the one-sided tariff hike from the United States against Chinese goods was 'the starting point' of the trade war.
'If the two sides can reach a trade deal, all of the tariffs imposed must be abolished,' the Ministry's spokesperson Gao Feng said at a press briefing.
'The Chinese side has always believed that the action of increasing tariffs from one side would not only hurt others but also damage one self,' Mr Gao added.
'It will ultimately harm the interests of American companies and consumers, bring uncertainty to global economy and even cause a recession.'
Trade teams from both countries are in contact, Mr Gao Feng added.
The leaders of the two countries agreed last weekend to relaunch trade talks that had stalled in May after U.S. officials accused China of pulling back from commitments made in the text of a pact negotiators had said was nearly finished.
U.S. President Donald Trump said trade negotiations with Beijing were 'back on track' after an 'excellent' meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on June 29 at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
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To get talks restarted, Trump had agreed not to put tariffs on about $300 billion (£238 billion) in additional Chinese imports and ease curbs on Chinese tech giant Huawei which had been banned from using American suppliers.
China welcomes the U.S. decision not to slap new tariffs on its goods, Gao said, when asked how long the trade truce can last.
Top representatives of the United States and China are organising a resumption of talks for next week to try to resolve the year-long trade war, Trump administration officials said yesterday.
'Those talks will continue in earnest this coming week,' White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters in a briefing.
The principal negotiators on the U.S. side are U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, while China's top negotiator is Vice Premier Liu He.
China and the United States have already imposed tariffs of up to 25 per cent on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's goods in the trade war.
The United States now has tariffs of 25 per cent on $250 billion (£198 billion) of Chinese goods, ranging from furniture to semiconductors.
In retaliation, China imposed new tariffs on 5,410 American products from June 1.
The tariffs, ranging from five percent to 25 per cent, impact various common items including condoms, perfume, wine, pianos, cordless phones, industrial robots, coffee and ovens.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
