MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

China confident in implementing trade commitments to US “as soon as possible”

Over the weekend a temporary truce was agreed between US president Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting in Argentina

Chinese officials have said they are “confident in implementing” trade commitments made to the US “as soon as possible”, without giving details. An ongoing trade war has seen both countries impose duties on billions of dollars of one another's goods.

Over the weekend a temporary truce was agreed between US president Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting in Argentina.

But concerns linger over discrepancies in information coming from either side.

In a commerce ministry statement, Chinese officials called the talks between the two leaders a “great success”.

China and the US would push ahead with negotiations over 90 days and China would implement the specific issues it agreed with the US “as soon as possible”, the statement said.

The US and China paused a trade war after several months, agreeing to halt new tariffs for 90 days.

Ahead of the statement from China, President Trump sounded optimistic, but reiterated his tough stance.

“President Xi and I want this deal to happen, and it probably will. But if not remember, I am a Tariff Man,” Mr Trump said on Twitter.

“When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so.”

The US President said China was supposed to begin buying US agricultural products and others “immediately” as part of an agreement to reduce the trade imbalance between them.

However, there are some discrepancies in what the US is saying and what was in the brief statement from Chinese officials.

While Mr Trump said talks with China and the 90-day truce period had already started, China did not clarify when the 90-day period was supposed to begin.

Also, China's commerce ministry made no mention of the car tariff cuts which Mr Trump said earlier this week China had agreed to.

Mr Trump said this week on Twitter that Beijing had agreed to “reduce and remove” 40% tariffs it places on US cars.

China has pledged to implement the changes agreed at trade talks between Presidents Trump and Xi “as soon as possible”, but it has not repeated claims from senior figures in the US that it will happen “immediately”, he said.