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Larry Kudlow, director of the U.S. National Economic Council, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview outside the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Aug. 2, 2019.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said recent trade talks with China “went very well.”
“The phone call the night before last with Secretary Mnuchin and Lighthizer and Vice Premier Liu He went very well. That’s important,” Kudlow said Friday on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street. “The phone lines have been open during this period and the negotiations have been proceeding.”
Liu He, China’s top negotiator on trade, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held a phone call on Wednesday and agreed to meet in early October for another round of negotiations.
“The deputies level [meeting] will continue in Washington later this month and from that deputies level meetings will come agenda and outline so the principles with meet early October,” Kudlow said. “I think this is terribly important.”
The USTR spokesperson said earlier this week both countries “agreed to hold meetings at the ministerial level in Washington in the coming weeks” and that deputy-level meetings would take place in mid-September “to lay the ground work for meaningful progress.”
Many market participants and China insiders believe these new trade talks could lead to something substantial. The two countries have been engaged in a trade war for 18 months now. The meetings will follow the latest round of tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of goods from each country that took effect on Sunday.
