China In Close Touch With U.S. on Trade as Tariff Deadline Nears

(Bloomberg) --

Trade teams from China and the U.S. remain in close touch, a government spokesman said, as a Sunday deadline for higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods approaches.

Gao Feng, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said at a regular briefing in Beijing that he had no new information on the talks to release. Gao repeated that the government is processing applications for tariff waivers for agricultural commodities, a step that would ease the cost of importing of U.S. goods.

Chinese officials expect President Donald Trump to delay the threatened tariff increase set for Sunday, according to people familiar with the discussions, giving more time to negotiate an interim trade deal that both sides continue to insist is close to fruition despite a series of missed deadlines.

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