On May 3-4, the United States and China will hold talks on trade in Beijing. The US delegation will comprise Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and White House economic aide Peter Navarro. The Chinese side will be chaired by Vice Premier Liu He.
"We hope that the United States will be sincere in its determination to preserve the stability of the Chinese-US trade and economic relations and will stick to the principles of mutual respect and equality during the talks. Then the bilateral consultations would be effective," Hua said at a briefing.
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Hua noted that one meeting would unlikely be enough to settle all the existing issues, taking into account the scale of the two states' economies.
The spokeswoman stressed that not only Beijing and Washington were interested in settlement of the bilateral trade challenges, but a number of other states as well.
Trade relations between China and the United States have deteriorated in recent weeks. In March, US President Donald Trump signed an order to impose a 25-percent tariff on imported steel and a 10-percent tariff on imported aluminium, after which he issued a memorandum introducing $60 billion in extra tariffs on China over allegations of intellectual property theft.
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In response, China introduced its own tariffs on goods produced in the United States. Both countries have said that they could implement further mutual restrictions. In early April, Trump suggested introducing an additional $100 billion in tariff against China in response to Beijing's "unfair retaliation."