US and Chinese negotiators have ended a brief round of trade talks with little sign of progress and agreed to meet again in September, prolonging an uneasy truce in a year-long trade war between the world's two largest economies.
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The talks were the first face-to-face meetings since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in June and agreed to get negotiators back together to try to find a way out of the dispute.
The White House and China's Commerce Ministry each described the meetings in Shanghai as constructive, but neither announced any agreements or goodwill gestures that might have cleared the path to more substantive future talks.
The two governments have levied billions of dollars of tariffs on each other's goods, disrupting global supply chains and roiling financial markets.
The International Monetary Fund has warned that the trade dispute will shave 0.2 per cent off global output.
Two people familiar with the talks said they focused largely on goodwill gestures including Chinese purchases of US soybeans, pork, ethanol and other commodities, and US moves to relax restrictions on sales to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.
The month-long delay until the next meeting gives both sides time to take action on these commitments, the Washington-based sources said.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin left China with little in hand save a pledge to keep talking, following a half-day meeting and a working dinner at Shanghai's historic Fairmont Peace Hotel.
China's Commerce Ministry said "both sides ... had a candid, highly effective, constructive and deep exchange on major trade and economic issues of mutual interest." It said negotiators discussed more Chinese purchases of US agricultural products, but did not say there was any agreement to buy more.
The White House said China restated its commitment to buy more US farm goods and said negotiations on "an enforceable trade deal" would continue in Washington in early September, but gave no details about expected agricultural purchases.
The White House said in its statement that Chinese state subsidies, forced technology transfers and intellectual property violations were discussed. China's account of the discussions did not mention any of these non-agricultural issues.
Trump on Tuesday warned China against waiting out his first term to finalise any trade deal, saying the outcome would be worse for China if he wins re-election in November 2020. His administration had wanted to avoid lengthy negotiations.
Relations between the two governments have worsened since trade talks collapsed in May, when the United States said Beijing had reneged on commitments to make wide-ranging trade policy reforms.
The two sides are at odds over many issues beyond trade, including protests in Hong Kong and China's maritime claims in the South China Sea. US authorities have stepped up prosecutions of Chinese citizens on espionage and other charges.
Australian Associated Press
