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China-US trade talks makes progress, but in feet not yards

TALKS to reduce the US trade deficit with China have yielded deals, but American companies say more needs to be done, Reuters reports.

Having re-opened the China market to US beef after a 14-year blockage over suspected mad cow disease, the Chinese have now agreed to buy US liquefied natural gas. US firms have also been given access to China's financial services sector.

Advances are expected this week as US and Chinese officials meet in Washington for regularly scheduled annual talks.

Earlier in April, when Chinese President Xi Jinping met US President Donald Trump for the first time at his Florida resort, he agreed to a 100-day plan for talks to boosting American exports to China.

"Much more needs to be done for US-China commercial negotiations to be considered a success," said US-China Business Council (USCBC) vice president Jacob Parker in Beijing.

The Trump administration is considering broad tariffs or quotas on steel and aluminum in response to a glut of Chinese product flooding world markets and driving down prices.

North Korea has cast a shadow over the talks, after Pyongyang tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang: "There are hopes there will be even more concrete results."

China, meanwhile, has delivered its first batch of cooked chicken to US ports after years of negotiation.

Other sectors in China under US pressure to open up have moved more slowly. Beijing had only approved two of the eight biotech crops waiting for import approval, despite gathering experts to review the crops on two occasions in a six-week period.