The United States has threatened to impose tariffs on French goods in response to a law passed in the French parliament taxing American digital giants.
Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi said the US has, for political purposes, used the machine of state to suppress legitimate Chinese businesses and has groundlessly laid charges against them, which is an act of bullying.
China and the US have been locked in a bruising trade conflict for more than a year, hitting each other with volleys of tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods.
The two sides agreed to reduce tariffs on each other's goods in a move that might help reverse a slowing global economy.
The drop mounts pressure on Chinese leaders to avert politically dangerous job losses as they fight a tariff war with US President Donald Trump over Beijing's trade surplus and technology ambitions.
Asian markets fell following declines on Wall Street as the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump weighed on sentiment.
The officials agreed to "work together and take practical actions to create favourable conditions for consultations", the Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement.
China said it would impose additional tariffs on a total of 5,078 US products that include agricultural products, crude oil, small aircraft and cars. Tariffs on some products would take effect on September 1 and others on December 15.
The US-China trade war is already having a negative impact on the global economy. If Donald Trump and Xi Jinping cannot agree to new terms at the G20 Summit, it will affect everyone.
Tokyo and Washington are working on a two-way trade pact but President Donald Trump has said he does not expect major progress on it until July when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc faces an election for parliament's upper house.
Turkey’s removal from the Generalized System of Preferences program follows its "sufficient economic development," the US Trade Representative’s office says. India has also been removed from the list which provides tariff-free entry for some goods.
Higher-level negotiations will take place on Thursday and Friday after efforts in Beijing last week came to a head without any deal or resolution to a fight over Beijing's technology ambitions ahead of a deadline for a massive US tariff hike.
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