Highly-anticipated trade talks between senior officials from the U.S. and China ended in Shanghai on Wednesday with little progress made between the world's two economic superpowers.
However, they will pick things up again early next month,... meaning a flicker of hope remains for a possible breakthrough in the future.
Park Hee-jun reports. No deal between the U.S. and China.
The two sides wrapped up their two-day trade negotiations in Shanghai on Wednesday,... with no clear progress made.
However, they did agree to continue talks in Washington in early September.
It was their 12th round of negotiations and the first face-to-face between the two sides in two months.
The U.S. delegation was led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
The Chinese delegation, by Vice Premier Liu He.
The White House described the talks as "constructive".
It said the two sides discussed a range of topics from forced technology transfer and intellectual property rights to non-tariff barriers.
It added China promised to buy more U.S. farm products.
That's expected to offer some relief to the U.S. agriculture industry that's been impacted by the trade dispute.
China's Commerce Ministry also labeled the Shanghai negotiations "candid, highly effective and constructive."
According to the Wall Street Journal,... the limited progress was partly a result of China's tactic to try and reach a more favorable outcome.
It said the Chinese appear willing to negotiate,... but are stalling in the belief they can extract better terms from the U.S. by not rushing into concessions.
Trump tweeted on the first day of the negotiations that he expected Beijing to engage in such a strategy.
But he warned it would not be a smart approach,... saying it will be more difficult for China to reach a deal if he's re-elected in 2020.
With the lack of progress made in Shanghai,... there's growing skepticism the trade conflict can be resolved before the U.S. presidential elections are held in November of next year.
Park Hee-jun, Arirang News.