China and the U.S. are conducting in-depth discussions on the "phase one" trade deal, said Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) in a regular press conference on Thursday.

"If the 'phase one' trade deal goes through, tariffs should be taken out and its scale should reflect the importance of the agreement," noted Gao, confirming that China and U.S. are still working on the terms.

The China-U.S. trade war started with rounds of tariffs and should end up with removing the tariffs. This is the basis of reaching an agreement, according to the spokesperson. 

Gao said tariff cancellation is in the interest of producers and consumers, as well as "in the interests of both countries and the world."

MOFCOM released China's outbound investment figures for the first 10 months of 2019.

According to the ministry, Chinese investors invested 621.78 billion yuan or 90.46 billion U.S. dollars from January to October in overseas countries and regions, a year-on-year growth of 5.9 percent. A significant growth was recorded in October, with direct outbound investment reaching 66.95 billion yuan or 9.47 billion U.S. dollars. That was a 28 percent year-on-year leap.

"The first 10-month figures show a particularly strong momentum for Belt and Road countries," Gao said, citing new investment in 56 countries of 11.46 billion U.S. dollars in the period.

(CGTN's Sun Ye also contributed to the story.)

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