World
Donald Trump & Xi Jinping Temporarily Cease Ongoing Bilateral Trade War
The US government has agreed to hold off on raising tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on January 1
The recent meeting between the United States President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit has brought some relief to the people as the two leaders on Saturday agreed to temporarily cease the ongoing bilateral trade war after a two-and-a-half hour discussion.
The White House rolled out an official statement on Saturday evening announcing that the US government has agreed to hold off on raising tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent on January 1. In exchange, Beijing has agreed to buy an unspecified but very substantial amount of agricultural, energy, industrial and other products from the United States to help reduce the trade imbalance, reported CNBC.
The statement further noted that the two sides would launch a new round of trade talks to address issues including technology transfer, intellectual property, non-tariff barriers, cyber theft, and agriculture. The talks will also take into account US complaints of China forcing American companies to hand over technology and steals their intellectual property through hacking.
If in case the two countries don’t reach a trade deal in the next 90 days then the US government will proceed with its plans of raising 10 percent tariffs to 25 percent.
Trump hailed his deal with Xi calling out the agreement as incredible.
“It’s an incredible deal,” Trump said while speaking to reporters on Air Force One. “What I’d be doing is holding back on tariffs. China will be opening up. China will be getting rid of tariffs.”
He added that as part of the deal China would buy a tremendous amount of agricultural and other product from the United States which as a result will have an incredibly positive impact on the country’s farming sector. Notably, China would also reduce and remove its tariffs on American automobiles.
