Reuters reported that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Fox News on Thursday (May 1st) local time that China hopes to meet and discuss trade issues, and discussions will begin soon.
"Our Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is involved in those efforts and their talks will begin shortly," he said, adding that one issue is how much the United States should buy from China in the future.
China's Ministry of Commerce also actively responded to the China-US negotiations for the first time. On the 2nd, the Ministry of Commerce website stated in a post titled "Spokesperson Answers Reporters' Questions on China-US Economic and Trade Dialogue and Consultations" that China has noted that senior US officials have repeatedly expressed their willingness to negotiate with China on tariffs. Furthermore, the US has recently proactively conveyed information to China through relevant parties, expressing its desire to engage in talks. "China is currently evaluating this," the post reads.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce stated that China's position remains consistent: if there's a fight, we'll fight to the end; if there's a negotiation, the door is open. The tariff war and trade war were unilaterally initiated by the United States. If the United States wants to negotiate, it should demonstrate sincerity and be prepared and take action to correct its erroneous practices and cancel unilateral tariffs. China would like to emphasize that if the United States fails to correct its erroneous unilateral tariff measures during any possible dialogue or talks, it demonstrates a complete lack of sincerity and will further undermine mutual trust between the two sides. Saying one thing and doing another, or even attempting to coerce or blackmail under the guise of negotiations, will not work with China.
