Trade wars

US-China trade talks extended to third day

Face-to-face trade negotiations between China and the United States will be extended to an unscheduled third day, according to US officials.

This week's meetings in Beijing are the first direct talks since Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, agreed in December to a 90-day ceasefire in a trade war which has seen the two sides raise import tariffs on each other's goods and has roiled global financial markets.

Experts say it will take months for the world's two largest economies to resolve the causes of the dispute, which include disagreements over Beijing's handling of technology and intellectual property.

As the talks wound down late on Tuesday evening in the Chinese capital, there were signs of progress on issues including purchases of US farm and energy commodities and increased access to China's markets.

But people familiar with the negotiations said the two sides were further apart on Chinese structural reforms that the Trump administration is demanding in order to stop alleged theft and forced transfer of US technology and on how to hold Beijing to its promises.