China’s U.S. Envoy Says Trade Deal Being Implemented, Hopes for Coordinated Response

China is still implementing the first phase of a Sino-U.S. trade pact, its ambassador to the United States said, but hoped the two could work together to assess the changing situation and coordinate their response, the Global Times said on Sunday.

The world’s two biggest economies signed the tentative deal to pause a damaging tariff war in January, before the coronavirus pandemic spread, threatening a global economic depression.

Cui Tiankai said China was still buying U.S. agricultural products, and was lifting some curbs faced by foreign companies entering its financial market, the tabloid affiliated to the Beijing-controlled People’s Daily newspaper said.

“We also hope that the economic teams of the two countries can sit together or hold video conferences to assess the changing situation and coordinate our response,” it quoted Cui as saying.

The virus, which has infected 1.6 million people and killed 106,000 in 214 countries, is believed to have originated in China’s central city of Wuhan late last year.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen, Winni Zhou and Brenda Goh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)