US-China tarde talks hit a snag over Huawei, WSJ says
Trade talks between Washington and Beijing have reportedly hit a snag amid Chinese demands for the US administration to ease its restrictions on Huawei, the country's largest telecommunications equipment maker.
The reports surfaced as US and Chinese trade officials were scheduled to hold a second round of talks during the current week.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the talks, China was waiting to see how the Trump administration proceeded as regards the company before making any commitments of its own.
At the end of June, at the G20 leaders' summit at the end of June, the US President and his Chinese counterpart agreed not to escalate the trade war and shortly afterwards Donald Trump said that some restrictions on Huawei would be lifted.
But Trump was short on details and had since come under pressure not to ignore national security considerations in exchange for a deal with China.
Also as per the Wall Street Journal, Wang Huiyao, the founder and president of the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing-based think tank, said that: "The Huawei issue has really changed the nature of things. The speed of things won’t be as quick as the U.S. hopes."
US officials had reportedly said previously that licenses would be issued to allow American firms to trade with Huawei, subject to there being no national security threats.
But in remarks to broadcaster CNBC, White House trade adviser, Peter Navarro, had said that the sale of computer chips to Huawei would be capped at $1.0bn a year, versus the estimated $11.0bn-worth of chips that the Chinese company sourced from US firms in 2018.
In parallel, reports were that there were differences between the US and Chinese sides regarding the size of US agricultural goods purchases to which Beijing had agreed at the G20.