China’s Vice Premier Liu He was interviewed by the CGTN TV network after the trip to Washington.
He noted the trade talks were “constructive, positive and fruitful”, and “very practical”. There were “lots of concrete consensus” reached in terms of trade and structural issues.
The concrete issues include agricultural and energy exports to China. Liu added that “the Chinese market will become the largest world market. So to increase imports, re-balance the economy and expand domestic demand is our national policy.” Also, Liu said “we expand our domestic market and increase imports because we want to serve the needs of our people, our economy, and our growth. Speeding reform and growth by means of opening up is a very important national strategy. It worked for China for the past 40 years, and we will continue down that path.”
But he emphasized that “exporting to China or making China buy more, one must make the Chinese consumers happy”.
Also, Liu noted that the strongest demand from both sides were to stop imposing more tariffs on each other’s products. And he said “this time, both sides pledged to stop the trade war and develop good relations, be it in trade or in investment. I think this is a major demand from both countries.”
Liu also pointed to resolutions of some of “our misunderstands from the past. He hailed that “these meetings will not just help bilateral economic and trade relations, but overall ties. It’s good for people in both countries.”
