US-China talks planned as China pledges to meet economic targets

A spokesman for China’s top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said China still intended to meet its economic targets despite the trade war with the US and new economic data showing a significant slowdown, Bloomberg reports.

China posted weak numbers on Tuesday amid US threats that it would impose further trade tariffs. Fixed-asset investment growth slowed to a record low of 5.5 per cent from January to July, while both retail sales and industrial output undershot economic analysts’ predictions, the Nikkei Asian Review reports.

NRDC spokesman Cong Liang said China would be able to cope with the widening trade war and promised to still meet an annual economic growth rate of around 6.5 per cent by stepping up infrastructure spending, increasing the funds available in the banking system, and encouraging foreign investment from the European Union and Southeast Asia, Reuters reports.

In a sign that trade talks between the US and China may still succeed, the South China Morning Post reports that a Chinese commerce vice-minister Wang Shouwen would lead a delegation to meet US Treasury undersecretary David Malpass later in August. The talks are set to take place on 21 and 22 August, just before the 23 August deadline when the US administration is due to initiate additional tariffs on US$16 billion of Chinese goods. CNBC identified signs of recovery in global markets upon the news that trade talks are being reopened. There is concern however that these talks, the first since July, many not lead to a breakthrough given the relatively low-level officials involved.