Washington/Beijing — China would "significantly increase purchases" of US goods, the White House said as Beijing’s special envoy at talks in Washington declared a trade war between the world’s two largest economies had been averted. A joint statement released by the White House following the talks did not place a value on the increased purchases by China or respond to a comment by President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser suggesting Beijing had agreed to slash its annual trade surplus with the US by $200bn. Vice-Premier Liu He, a special envoy of China’s President Xi Jinping, told reporters in Washington that talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and US trade representative Robert Lighthizer ended with a pledge not to engage in a trade war, according to a Xinhua news agency report. Liu said both sides agreed to stop "slapping tariffs" on each other and called his visit "positive, pragmatic, constructive and productive", Xinhua reported. Co-...
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