Enforcement offices will be set up in both China and the US as part of a mechanism to deal with ongoing trade matters, US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday during a television interview with CNBC. It followed what he called a “productive” phone call with China’s vice premier Liu He on Tuesday evening.
The two countries are working towards a deal that will put an end to their trade war, with Mnuchin saying the deal under discussion spans over 150 pages. US president Donald Trump said last week that a deal will be reached in the next four weeks.
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China is once again reshuffling the makeup of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) monetary policy committee, chaired by the central bank’s governor Yi Gang. It is replacing Liu Shiyu with Yi Huiman, according to a notice on the government’s website published on Thursday but dated April 3.
The move came as little surprise: Yi succeeded Liu as the head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission earlier this year. Liu currently serves as the chairman of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.
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Cecilia Malmstrom, EU trade commissioner, expressed frustration over China’s trade policies in an interview with the Financial Times.
She said that although the EU will not use US’s punitive policies, it is unsatisfied with China subsidising state-owned enterprises that make overseas acquisitions.
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On Monday morning, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released its urbanisation task list for 2019. The most important was the liberalisation of hukou, a registration programme that determines where Chinese citizens can live, study and get medical care.
“Large-scale cities with a permanent population of three million to five million people should fully lift hukou restrictions, and restrictions on the settlement of key groups should be completely abolished,” according to the statement.
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The Ministry of Finance on Thursday put out a notice, dated March 26, regarding foreign accounting firms auditing issuers of Panda bonds. The firms are required to report to the MoF at least 20 days before foreign institutions file applications to issue bonds in China’s interbank bond market. They are also required to make annual reports to the MoF as long as the bonds remain outstanding.
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Chinese financial news outlet Yicai reported that some local banking and insurance regulators are encouraging certain banks to include loans that are overdue by 60 days and above in their non-performing loan book. The existing threshold of non-performing loans set by Chinese regulators is 90 days.
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The Chinese government has further lowered the import tariffs on drugs to 13%, according to an April 8 statement. The new tariffs will be effective on April 9.
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Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing (HKEX) signed an MoU with Hebei Provincial Government on Tuesday.
The MoU is designed to strengthen mutual communication and capital market cooperation. It will also seek to help more Hebei-based companies list in Hong Kong.