US-China historic trade deal inked
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BEIJING: The United States will send a delegation led by White House adviser Matt Pottinger to a summit for China’s new Silk Road plan this weekend, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
The announcement that a U.S. delegation would be coming to what is China’s biggest diplomatic event of the year coincides with the unveiling of an important trade deal between China and the United States.
The deal, the first tangible result of trade talks that began last month, will see China allow U.S. imports of beef no later than July 16. By that deadline, the United States said it would issue a proposed rule to allow Chinese cooked poultry to enter U.S. markets.
China will also allow increased access for American financial firms.
In return, the United States said it “recognizes the importance” of the plan for a new Silk Road, known as the Belt and Road initiative, and would send a delegation to a conference on it in Beijing, delivering a symbolic boost to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign and economic policy.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Pottinger, special assistant to the president and the National Security Council’s senior director for East Asia, would be coming.
