The United States Department of Commerce released a report yesterday on the progress made in US-China talks following the meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago last month.

At the summit, the two sides agreed to advance US-China economic cooperation with a 100-day action plan under the framework of the US-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue. The three co-chairs, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, and Vice Premier Wang Yang of China, reached consensus on initial commitments under the 100-day plan and objectives for next steps in areas including agricultural trade, financial services, investments, and energy.

Among the initial actions of the US-China economic cooperation plan, China is to allow imports of US beef following one more round of technical consultations and beginning no later than July 16, 2017. The US and China are to resolve outstanding issues for the import of China origin cooked poultry to the US, with the US publishing a proposed rule by July 16, 2017.

China’s National Biosafety Committee (NBC) is to hold a meeting by the end of this month to conduct science-based evaluations of eight pending US biotechnology product applications to assess the safety of the products for their intended use. For any product not passing the safety evaluation, the NBC will provide in writing a complete list of requested‎ information necessary to finalize the safety assessment. For products passing the safety evaluations, China is to grant certificates within 20 days.

The US wants to sell China liquefied natural gas (LNG). The US pledged to treat China no less favorably than other trade partners with which the US has no free trade agreement with regard to LNG export authorizations.

In the financial services arena, China is to allow foreign-owned financial services firms to provide credit rating services, and to begin the licensing process for credit investigation by July 16, 2017. By that same date, China is to issue any further necessary guidelines and allow US-owned suppliers of electronic payment services (EPS) to begin the licensing process. US federal regulatory authorities committed to apply the same bank supervisory and regulatory standards to Chinese banking institutions as to other foreign banking institutions. China is to issue bond underwriting and settlement licenses to two qualified US financial institutions by July 16.

The US recognized the importance of China’s Belt and Road initiative and is to send delegates to attend the Belt and Road Forum  (BARF) in Beijing May 14 to 15. The US welcomes direct investment by Chinese entrepreneurs and invites Chinese participation in the SelectUSA Investment Summit to be held next month in Washington.

Both sides identified other issues that will require significant effort to resolve and achieve progress on within the 100-day period. Both sides further committed to strengthen communication and coordination to jointly advance those issues and achieve resolution as soon as possible. As progress is made in implementing the actions under the 100-day plan, the two sides will begin discussing a one-year plan to further solidify actions in promoting US-China economic engagement and cooperation.

Following implementation of the 100-day plan, according to a statement released by the Commerce Department, “the United States and China look forward to deepening engagement on these and other issues at the first meeting of the Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, to be held in the United States in the summer of 2017.”