China and U.S. formally agree on more trade talks in coming weeks

China’s Ministry of Commerce issued a statement early Thursday saying that trade talks between the U.S. and China will resume in early October in Washington.

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative confirmed by email that talks will be held "in the coming weeks" at the ministerial level in Washington with deputy-level meetings taking place beforehand in mid-September. Both sides talked by phone early Thursday.

The announcements sparked a 1.5% uptick on the Nasdaq and Dow markets. 

China’s statement said the October talks will be preceded by “serious consultations” in mid-September to prepare for the October meetings. In an early Thursday phone call “the two sides agreed that they should work together and take practical actions to create favorable conditions for consultations,” according to the statement from China’s Ministry of Commerce. The statement was auto-translated into English using Microsoft Translator. 

The USTR said by email that the mid-September meetings are intended to "lay the ground work for meaningful progress."

According to the statements from both the U.S. and China, the phone call early Thursday was between Chinese officials including Liu He, vice premier of the China State Council, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The other three Chinese officials named in the Chinese statement were Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan, People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang and Ning Jizhe, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Both sides had previously discussed trade talks resuming in September.

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