BEIJING: China on Thursday affirmed a trade deal announced by US President Donald Trump, saying both sides needed to abide by the consensus and adding China always kept its word.
"China has always kept its word and delivered results," Lin Jian, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said at a regular news conference. "Now that a consensus has been reached, both sides should abide by it."
The Trump-Xi telephone call broke a standoff that had flared just weeks after a preliminary deal was reached in Geneva. The call was quickly followed by more talks in London that Washington said had put "meat on the bones" of the Geneva agreement to ease retaliatory tariffs.
The Geneva deal had faltered over China's continued curbs on minerals exports, prompting the Trump administration to respond with export controls preventing shipments of semiconductor design software, jet engines for Chinese-made planes and other goods to China.
China's commerce ministry said it will continue to strengthen the examination and approval process (for rare earths), but declined to disclose how many licences would be approved this week. "China is willing to further enhance communication and dialogue on export control with relevant countries, and promote the facilitation of compliant trade," ministry spokesperson He Yadong told a regular press conference, adding: "China, as a responsible major country, fully takes into account the legitimate ..
"It reviews export licence applications for rare earth-related items in accordance with laws and regulations," spokesman He Yadong told a news conference, adding that a "certain number of compliant applications have already been approved. We will continue to strengthen the approval process for compliant applications," He added.
Trump on Wednesday said he was very happy with the trade deal. "Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities . We are getting a total of 55% tariffs, China is getting 10%."
Source Name : Economic Times