BEIJING, June 03 (Agencies): China warned the United States on Sunday that any agreements reached on trade and business between the two countries will be void if Washington implements tariffs and other trade measures, as the two ended their latest round of talks in Beijing.
A short statement, carried by the official Xinhua news agency, made no mention of any specific new agreements after U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross met Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.
It referred instead to a consensus they reached last month in Washington, when China agreed to significantly increase its purchases of U.S. goods and services.
"The two sides had good communication about implementing the consensus reached in Washington and on many areas such as agriculture and energy, achieving positive and concrete progress," the state news agency said, adding details would be subject to "final confirmation by both parties".
The United States and China have threatened tit-for-tat tariffs on goods worth up to $150 billion each.
Xinhua said China's attitude has been consistent, which is that it is willing to increase imports from all countries, including the United States.
"Reform and opening up and expanding domestic demand are China's national strategies. Our established rhythm will not change," it added.
"The achievements reached by China and the United States should be based on the premise that the two sides should meet each other halfway and not fight a trade war," Xinhua said. "If the United States introduces trade sanctions including tariffs, all the economic and trade achievements negotiated by the two parties will be void."
There was no immediate comment or statement from the U.S. delegation or from Ross himself.
At the end of last month's Washington talks the two countries put out a joint statement.
Meanwhile, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Sunday trade talks have been "friendly and frank" as the US and China continued with a second day of negotiations in Beijing aimed at deescalating tensions between the two sides.
The world's two largest economies have been at loggerheads over trade and industrial practices for months with the talks under way in the Chinese capital the third formal round of negotiations.
"Our meetings so far have been friendly and frank, and covered some useful topics about specific export items," Ross told the Chinese trade team led by Vice Premier Liu He, President Xi Jinping's right hand-man on economic issues.
Liu offered the US team a "special welcome" to Beijing for the talks.
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