U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday that he expects to begin negotiations with China on a so-called Phase 2 trade deal soon, with Washington and Beijing on the same page, reports Reuters.
“My guess is they (China) will consider waiving other tariffs as part of their purchasing program,” Mnuchin said of the $200 billion in additional U.S. goods and services that China has pledged to buy.
“My expectation is that we’ll start conversations on phase two in the near future,” he said in an interview at the end of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
In related news, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mnuchin said Saturday the U.S. hopes to complete a new trade agreement with the U.K. by the end of this year.
The U.K. will leave the European Union Friday, opening the way for it to negotiate new trade deals with the bloc and other countries around the world. One of its top priorities is an agreement with the U.S.
