U.S. business communities warmly welcomed the progress made in the latest round of trade negotiations between China and the United States, saying hopes are building up for a potential constructive deal by the two sides to relieve the burden of damaging tariffs.

Negotiators of the two sides have achieved substantial progress on specific issues in the Feb. 21-24 talks in Washington, the seventh round since February last year, covering technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights, non-tariff barriers, service industry, agriculture and exchange rates, according to the Chinese delegation.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that he "will be delaying" tariff hikes on Chinese imports previously scheduled for March 1, citing "very productive" trade talks between the two countries.

MORE HOPES FOR CONSTRUCTIVE DEAL

"I have strong hopes that the two largest economies will be able to bridge their differences and reach a constructive agreement," said Carla A. Hills, chairman and CEO of Hills & Company, International Consultants, a Washington-based advisory firm on trade and investment.

"It is important for each side to listen carefully to the other and to develop a win-win outcome," Hills, also a former U.S. trade representative from 1989 to 1993, told Xinhua.

She added that China will benefit from moving back to greater reliance on the U.S. market, as "that will help build trust, which has been badly eroded recently," she said.

Calling the just-concluded trade talks "very encouraging," Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for China-America Studies, said the talks have "irreversibly left the point of failure in the rear view mirror," though "the extent of the success remains to be seen."

"It is a confirmation of the trust and goodwill that have been engendered and this bodes favorably for win-win outcomes in the weeks ... ahead," Gupta told Xinhua.

In retrospect, the bilateral meetings in Beijing prior to last week's talks in Washington were "critically important," he said. "They ensured that the talks had crossed a threshold point from which failure was inconceivable."

U.S. BUSINESS COMMUNITIES ENCOURAGED

The sentiment of U.S. business communities has also been lifted by the latest trade progress made by the world's top two economies, as industrial associations and business owners alike felt relieved by the news of no further tariff hikes, and remained optimistic about the development of U.S.-China trade relations.

"We are optimistic to hear that there has been progress on a trade deal and that the Trump administration has pushed back the deadline for an increase of tariffs," said Rebecca Mond, vice president of federal government affairs at the Toy Association, a trade association for the U.S. toy industry.

"We are hopeful that a long-term trade deal is reached at the upcoming Mar-a-Lago meeting that removes tariffs, which are costing U.S. businesses and consumers every day," Mond told Xinhua.

Trump announced on Sunday that he would be planning a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to pursue a trade agreement.

Recent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have cost U.S. businesses 2.7 billion U.S. dollars in November 2018 alone, according to data released by Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, a campaign backed by the Washington-based National Retail Federation (NRF), the world's largest retail trade association.

Tariffs Hurt the Heartland also predicted that American workers would lose nearly 1 million U.S. jobs, if tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese imports increased from 10 to 25 percent.

The NRF hailed the latest trade progress as an effort to avoid a tariff hike and expressed the hope for a bilateral deal to end the tariffs.

"The decision to avoid a tariff hike is a positive development, and we encourage the administration to build on this momentum and reach a resolution that will eliminate uncertainty for American businesses and consumers," Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the NRF, said in a public statement.

Bob Grubba, whose company depends on trade, especially between China and the United States, said that both countries and peoples need each other, as "a lot of people's jobs depend on that (U.S.-China trade)."

"I'm glad to see progress, and I'm glad to see the (U.S.) government sort out their issues before it gets to a big thing," Grubba, founder and CEO of Choo Choo Shoes, told Xinhua.

Describing the trade progress as "good news" for both businesses and families, Josh Selig, president of Little Airplane Productions, a New York City-based TV production firm, also expressed optimism about future U.S.-China trade relations.

"This is good news for business and it's good news for families. I believe we'll all be celebrating very soon in the United States and in China," said Selig.

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