Trade ties between the world's two largest economies are likely to remain on back burner as China focuses on Winter Olympics and prepares for upcoming 'two sessions' legislative meetings, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, citing Doug Barry, Communications Vice-President with the US-China Business Council, a 265-member advocacy group in Washington.

Key quotes

"I'm sure both sides are looking at various things they can do ratchet up pressure on the other.”

“Each side could raise import tariffs while flagship American companies could face heat in Congress to tone down business in China.”

“Trade ties will wobble for a while as China is focused on the Olympics and the upcoming two sessions legislative meetings in March.”

This comes after the US Commerce Department said Monday, it had added 33 Chinese entities to its so-called 'unverified list', which requires US exporters to go through more procedures before shipping goods to the entities.

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