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China's Early Gestures Alone Won't Settle Trade War, Ross Says

China's Early Gestures Alone Won't Settle Trade War, Ross Says

(Bloomberg) -- China will need to do more than what it’s promised so far to ease trade tensions with the U.S., Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.

Markets have jumped on signs that China may offer some of the concessions that the U.S. is seeking in trade negotiations, such as removing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. autos and considering plans to scale back its strategy for technology domination. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping during a Dec. 1 meeting in Argentina agreed on a 90-day delay in imposing news tariffs while they try and work out a deal.

“They’ve started to make some very early stage, very preliminary, but very welcome moves,” Ross said in an interview on Bloomberg TV on Thursday. The U.S. doesn’t expect China to deliver on all 142 of the Trump administration’s demands, but success of the negotiations will depend on how many of the requests are met and whether China will agree to enforceable measures, he said.

While welcoming China’s plans to restart purchases of soybeans and potentially importing more liquefied natural gas, Ross said the Asian nation will need to take further action to end the impasse.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Mayeda in Washington at amayeda@bloomberg.net;David Westin in New York at dwestin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Murray at brmurray@bloomberg.net, Sarah McGregor

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