China and the US pledged to implement the trade agreement

Trade representatives fromChina and the United States agreed on Friday to implement the trade agreement signed in January, official sources said, despite mounting tensions over thenew coronavirus pandemic . Vice-Premier ofChina,Liu He , who led the negotiating team of his country, was telephoned on Friday with thetrade representative of theUnited States, Robert Lighthizer , and theSecretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, as reported bythe Chinese Ministry of Commerce. “Both parties indicated that they should strengthen macroeconomic and public health cooperation, strive to create a favourable atmosphere and conditions for the implementation of phase one of the economic and trade agreement between theUnited States and China, promoting positive results,” said the note. The countries also agreed to maintain communication and coordination. For its part, a joint note from the US representatives indicated that the parties “also agreed that despite the current global health emergency, the two countries have the expectation of fulfilling their obligations within the appropriate time frames.” They also noted that “good progress” is being made in creating the government infrastructure necessary to make the trade deal successful. The contact came after the two nations recently exchanged accusations of thenewcoronaviruspandemic. Last week, United States PresidentDonald Trumpthreatened new tariffs against China after claiming that there was evidence linkingCOVID-19to a high-security laboratory in the Chinese city ofWuhan, where the pathogen was identified. at the end of last year. In January, China agreed to import an additional $200 billion in U.S. products over two years, above levels reached in 2017, marking a truce in the trade war. However, various analysts are wondering ifChinawill be able to meet such ambitious commitments after the coronavirus outbreak slowed trading activity earlier this year. Recovery has been slow since then, and consumption has not yet returned to pre-epidemic levels. China’s imports fell 14.2% YoY in April, after falling 0.9% in the previous month, despite the country’s largely controlled coronavirus locally.