The U.S. will send a high-level delegation of trade representatives to China on Monday for negotiations with their Chinese counterparts.
None of the names listed is a secretary or top official. It was not immediately clear if top officials who have participated in previous delegations would make the trip, but they were not listed.
The U.S. officials in the party will include:
- Ambassador Jeffrey Gerrish, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative
- Ambassador Gregg Doud, USTR Chief Agricultural Negotiator
- Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney, U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Gilbert B. Kaplan, U.S. Department of Commerce
- Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg, U.S. Department of Energy
- Under Secretary for International Affairs David Malpass, U.S. Department of the Treasury
The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office added that the delegation “will be accompanied by senior officials from the White House, USTR, and the U.S. departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, State, and Treasury.”
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has previously led U.S. trade delegations in China trade meetings. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, and Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro have also participated in trade meetings with Chinese officials.
China has recently promoted any updates on the trade relationship between the two nations including multiple calls between trade officials.
China’s Ministry of Commerce promoted incremental progress in vice ministerial-level trade talk calls the week ahead of Christmas. That progress included discussions on trade imbalances and intellectual property protections, issues President Donald Trump has been demanding progress on from China for months. China’s description of the calls included news of “new progress” on these issues.
China again promoted progress in the final days of 2017 when it announced that there would be in-person trade meetings between officials from each country in January.
President Trump has previously suggested the Chinese economy has suffered under U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. China has issued retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. The two countries have each issued waves of tariffs as trade negotiations have been in flux between progress and stalling. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the G20 summit in Argentina on December 1 and the two nations agreed to a temporary halt on any new tariffs and China agreed to give focused attention to making trade progress.
Michelle Moons is a White House Correspondent for Breitbart News — follow on Twitter @MichelleDiana and Facebook