As officials from China and the United States wrapped up one-and-a-half days of economic and trade talks in Paris on Monday, some US experts described the outcome as a modest but meaningful step toward greater stability in bilateral economic relations.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the two sides addressed issues of mutual concern, including tariff arrangements, ways to promote bilateral trade and investment, and the need to preserve the existing consultation consensus. The talks took place under the guidance of the important consensus reached earlier by the two heads of state.

Leader of the Chinese delegation, Vice-Premier He Lifeng, told his US counterpart that guided by the strategic common understandings between the two leaders and building on five rounds of consultations last year, China and the US have achieved a series of outcomes in the economic and trade field. "These outcomes have injected greater certainty and stability into bilateral economic and trade relations as well as into the global economy," He said.

The vice-premier pointed out that the US Supreme Court has ruled that the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are unlawful. However, the US imposed an additional 10 percent import surcharge on all trading partners under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and launched trade measures, including Section 301 investigations. China has consistently opposed unilateral US tariffs, He said, urging Washington to completely remove such tariffs and other restrictive measures.

Vice-Minister of Commerce Li Chenggang, who is also China's international trade representative, said that China's stance on Section 301 investigations remains consistent, and it opposes such unilateral probes.

US experts, meanwhile, welcomed the positive tone of the Paris meeting and said that this round of talks had contributed toward stability of bilateral economic relations.

Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies, a think tank based in Washington, DC, viewed the just-concluded Paris talks as a clear stabilizing step. The talks "seemed to hint for the first time that the two sides may be moving beyond their mutually assured destruction framework to framing their tech, trade and investment relationship on a more positive-minded basis" that is more "durable", he said.

Gary Hufbauer, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think tank based in Washington, DC, said the Supreme Court ruling has not weakened leverage. "There is not much weakening of leverage since Section 301 tariffs at arbitrary levels are around the corner," he said.

Hufbauer said he anticipated modest tariff progress if a summit between the two heads of state took place. "If and when the summit occurs, I expect mutual reduction on a few tariffs or other barriers. But nothing big," he said.

The Paris talks reportedly included the topic of US farm exports to China. The US Soybean Export Council told China Daily that it is "watching for developments that come from the pending summit talks and hoping for good outcomes".