China-U.S. Expanded Bilateral Meeting at Florida (Photo : Getty Images)
In a move to prevent a trade war with the U.S.,which would be harmful to both countries, China opened its doors to give the U.S. better access to invest in the financial sector and lift the ban on U.S. beef exports, the Financial Times reported.
At their first meeting in Florida last week, the two leaders have agreed to push negotiations for the China-U.S. trade and produce results within 100 days.
Currently, foreign investors are barred from holding a major stake in securities and insurance companies in China. Citic Securities and China Life Insurance, the country's largest companies, have dominated the sectors for almost 15 years.
However, during Obama's administration, Chinese and U.S. negotiators have discussed the possibility to allow majority foreign ownership in these sectors during the series of talks on bilateral investment treaty (BIT).
According to the report, the issues on market access in several Chinese industries will be resolved if Trump would pursue the treaty.
"China was prepared to [raise the investment ceilings] in the BIT but those negotiations were put on hold [after Trump's election victory]," one Chinese official involved in the talks, said. "Had Obama been in office for another six months we would have gotten there."
In addition to giving market access to its financial and securities sector, China is also ready to lift the ban on U.S. beef imports which had been imposed since 2003. The country will also increase its purchase of grains and other agricultural products to ease tensions on the $347 billion annual trade surplus with the U.S.
Although the signing of the investment treaty may still take some time to materialize, both China and the U.S. are optimistic that they can achieve results with smaller trade deals in the next three months.
Last Saturday, April 8, Trump tweeted to describe his meeting with Xi as "tremendous."
In his follow-up tweet, the U.S. president said: "Goodwill and friendship was formed. But only time will tell on trade."
