Sino-US relationship "paying dividends": White House

WASHINGTON -- White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that the trade consensus reached by China and the United States on Thursday showed that the bilateral relationship is already "paying dividends."

"As the president has shown, in terms of the relationship that he's built with (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping) and the rest of the team built with their delegation, those relationships are clearly paying dividends," Spicer told a daily press briefing on Friday.

Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao Friday confirmed the initial results of a 100-day action plan for China-US comprehensive economic dialogue, covering agriculture, financial services, investment and energy.

Some highlights of the outcome are that China will allow imports of U.S. beef; the United States is to import poultry from China. The United States expects China and other partners to import liquefied natural gas and China will allow wholly foreign-funded financial services to provide credit ratings in China.

Most of the agreements are expected to be implemented by July 16, Zhu said.

Spicer also suggested that the U.S. government is eyeing further cooperation with China under the Belt and Road Initiative.

"It's a major trade initiative," Spicer said, adding that "we're going to continue to work with them."

The United States will send a delegation to the upcoming Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation scheduled for May 14-15 in Beijing. According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang, the Washington delegation will be led by Matt Pottinger, special assistant to the president and senior director for Asia at the National Security Council.

"Trade is a major issue for us," Spicer said.