China hopes U.S. will remove tariffs, end sanctions to create conditions for trade

BEIJING – China hopes the United States will remove additional tariffs on Chinese goods and end its sanctions and crackdowns as soon as possible to create conditions for trade cooperation, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

Gao Feng, ministry spokesman, made the comments at a regular briefing.

U.S. trade data on Tuesday revealed a massive shortfall in China’s commitment to increase U.S. purchases under former U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Phase 1” trade deal implemented two years ago.

(Reporting by Xu Jing, Stella Qiu and Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Himani Sarkar)