US must remove tariffs for trade deal to happen, Chinese official says

Washington will have to remove its existing tariffs if it wants to close a trade deal with Beijing, a top Chinese official said.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Chinese Commerce ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, said all of America's punitive tariffs on the country's exports would have to be removed in order for there to be a trade deal, Caixin reported.

Gao reportedly also said that tariffs were hurting both countries and would ultimately hurt the interests of US firms and consumers and generate uncertainty in the world economy.

On Wednesday evening, US National Economic Council director, Larry Kudlow said trade officials from both countries were already talking and would continue to hold telephone calls over the coming week and schedule face-to-face meetings, Bloomberg reported.

The US administration had already placed a 25% tariff on $250bn-worth of Chinese exports, although on the 29 June it decided to forego placing levies on a further $300bn-worth of goods.

Kudlow has in the past indicated that existing tariffs would remain while negotiations were ongoing.