High-level trade talks to resume Thursday

High-level trade negotiations between China and the United States will resume in Washington on Thursday, to be attended by Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, both sides have confirmed.

It will be a new round of high-level trade talk aimed at breaking the impasse between the world's top two economies that has been rattling stock markets, stifling international trade and weakening prospects for global economic growth.

The US Commerce Department announced Monday that it is blacklisting 28 Chinese entities that it alleges are involved in rights violations and abuses.

It is not immediately clear how the latest US blacklisting of Chinese firms, and the timing of the announcement, will affect the trade talks later this week. There was no comment from the Chinese side by press time.

"Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin will welcome a Chinese delegation led by Vice-Premier Liu He for continued trade negotiations between the two countries starting on October 10, 2019," the White House said in a statement on Monday.

Early on Tuesday, China's Ministry of Commerce confirmed that at the invitation of the US side, Vice-Premier Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and top trade negotiator, will travel to Washington for talks scheduled for Thursday and Friday.