U.S.-China trade talks opened Monday in Beijing, with negotiators for the world’s two biggest economies trying to resolve tariff disputes that have roiled world markets in recent weeks. U.S. and Chinese officials expressed optimism before the two day talks, but Beijing at the same time complained about the sighting of the U.S.S. McCampbell destroyer in what it said were Chinese waters near disputed islands in the South China Sea. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China had made “stern complaints” with the United States about the sighting of the warship, but the trade talks went ahead. There was no immediate U.S. response to the Chinese complaint.
The trade talks are the result of an agreement last month between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to halt the tit-for-tat tariff conflict between the two countries for 90 days starting on New Year’s Day. Last year, Trump imposed tariff hikes of up to 25 percent on $250 billion of Chinese goods, with China retaliating with its own tariff increases on $110 billion of U.S. exports.
The United States has long complained about access to the vast Chinese market and Beijing’s demands U.S. companies reveal their technology advances.