The United States officially hiked tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods coming from China after the latest round of trade negotiations started yesterday in Washington. The punitive measures affect over 5,700 categories of Chinese goods, including food and electric appliances. However, the increased tariffs will not apply to goods shipped before Friday, a notice published in the US Trade Representative's Federal Register said.
As negotiations are set to continue today, Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are expected to hold a phone conversation on the issue. Recent reports indicated that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said that "there is nothing more he can do" and left it for the two leaders to try to reach an agreement.
Meanwhile, Liu met with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer without the title "special envoy," suggesting that he was not authorized by President Xi to make any large concessions to the other side in the negotiations.
