Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing to meet with a U.S. trade delegation in Beijing on Friday, a Chinese source familiar with the plans tells Newsy.
The U.S. and China began that new round of trade talks Thursday morning. They're being led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. As of Thursday afternoon, it wasn't clear if the U.S. delegation had agreed to meet with Xi.
The source said the Chinese president is expected to sign off on a deal to significantly increase purchases of semiconductors from the U.S. According to the Wall Street Journal, the purchases would total $200 billion over the next six years. Xi is also expected to extend an invitation to President Donald Trump for another summit.
Officials from both countries met in Washington earlier this year to talk about ending the trade war, which has gone on for months now. China and the U.S. have slapped tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's goods since the dispute started. And President Donald Trump has threatened to up the ante and increase those tariffs if negotiators can't come to an agreement by March 1.
This "skinny deal" expected to come out of the Beijing talks is narrow. The larger trade agreement remains elusive. But negotiators think this will be enough to convince President Trump to delay his March 1 deadline to reach a deal before raising tariffs on China.
