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US-China trade talks back on track, says Trump US-China trade talks back on track, says Trump
(about 2 hours later)
Donald Trump has declared that trade negotiations with China were “right back on track” after a highly anticipated meeting with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the G20 summit. Donald Trump has declared US trade negotiations with China to be “right back on track” after a highly anticipated meeting with Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka.
Media reports said that Trump had agreed that the US would not impose further tariffs in an ongoing trade war that other world leaders have warned could threaten the global economy. Trump said the US would not impose further tariffs in a trade war that other world leaders have warned could threaten the global economy, and added that the world’s two biggest economies would restart negotiations on a trade deal.
Xi and Trump agreed to restart trade negotiations “on the basis of equality and mutual respect”, China’s state news agency, Xinhua, said.
Trump warns China is 'ripe' for new tariffs and suggests Vietnam could be nextTrump warns China is 'ripe' for new tariffs and suggests Vietnam could be next
Trump told reporters that he and Xi had a “very, very good meeting”, adding that it had gone better than expected. China is expected to release a statement later on Saturday, while Trump will address trade friction at a press conference. The US president told a press conference that he and his Chinese counterpart had had a “great meeting”.
Trump said at the start of the meeting that he was open to a “historic fair trade deal” with China. “We are totally open to it,” he told Xi, who called for “cooperation and dialogue” instead of confrontation. “We will continue to negotiate, and I promise that at least for the time being we won’t be adding additional [tariffs] We’re going to work with China to see if we can make a deal. China will consult with us and will be buying a tremendous amount of food and agricultural products, and they’re going to start doing that almost immediately.”
He had said at the start of the meeting that he was open to a “historic fair trade deal” with China. “We are totally open to it,” he told Xi, who called for “cooperation and dialogue” instead of confrontation.
Trump added: “We want to do some things that will even it up with respect to trade. We were very close but something happened where it slipped up a little bit,” he added, in a reference to the failure of previous talks.Trump added: “We want to do some things that will even it up with respect to trade. We were very close but something happened where it slipped up a little bit,” he added, in a reference to the failure of previous talks.
Xi said at the start of the meeting that he wanted to take China-US relations forward on the basis of “coordination, cooperation and stability”. In a G20 declaration issued at the end of the two-day summit, the leaders avoided criticism of Trump-style protectionism but committed themselves to realising “free, fair and non-discriminatory” trade and to “keep our markets open”.
He added: “Forty years on, enormous change has taken place in the international situation and China-US relations, but one basic fact remains unchanged. China and the United States both benefit from cooperation and lose in confrontation. Cooperation and dialogue are better than friction and confrontation.” Fears of a protracted trade war that could put other countries, including Japan, in Washington’s crosshairs have overshadowed the summit.
Fears of a protracted trade war that could put other countries, including Japan, in Washington’s crosshairs have overshadowed the G20 summit.
Trump had threatened to extend existing tariffs to cover almost all imports from China to the US unless Beijing made progress in meeting US demands for economic reforms.Trump had threatened to extend existing tariffs to cover almost all imports from China to the US unless Beijing made progress in meeting US demands for economic reforms.
Observers had expected Xi and Trump so call a truce and at least agree on a date for more detailed discussions, as Trump attempts to limit the economic fallout at home in the run up to the 2020 presidential election. Their trade dispute escalated when talks collapsed in May after Washington accused Beijing of reneging on reform pledges. Trump raised tariffs from 10% to 25% on $200bn of Chinese goods, and China retaliated with levies on US imports.
The dispute escalated when talks collapsed in May after Washington accused Beijing of reneging on reform pledges. Trump raised tariffs to 25% from 10% on US$200bn of Chinese goods, and China retaliated with levies on US imports.
The Trump-Xi meeting came hours after the European Union and the South American trade bloc, Mercosur, sealed a free trade deal after two decades of negotiations.The Trump-Xi meeting came hours after the European Union and the South American trade bloc, Mercosur, sealed a free trade deal after two decades of negotiations.
“In the midst of international trade tensions, we are sending today a strong signal with our Mercosur partners that we stand for rules-based trade,” the European Commission’s president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said. The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said: “In the midst of international trade tensions, we are sending today a strong signal with our Mercosur partners that we stand for rules-based trade.”
In a sign of the deep divisions over trade that have overshadowed the summit, the G20 communiqué is expected to call for speedier reforms to the World Trade Organisation but will leave out criticism of Trump-style protectionism, according to Japan’s Nikkei business paper. Fears that disagreement over the climate crisis could sink the G20 declaration were overcome with a compromise that again left the US isolated in international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Instead, Japan is pushing for the communiqué to include a statement promoting a “free, fair and non-discriminatory” trade policy, the newspaper said, adding that several other G20 nations had endorsed the proposal. All G20 nations except the US reiterated their determination to implement the Paris agreement, noting in a separate clause that Washington intended to withdraw from the agreement “because it disadvantages American workers and taxpayers”.
The lack of progress on the climate emergency, despite it being flagged as a priority by the summit’s Japanese hosts, drew an angry reaction from campaigners.
Kimiko Hirata, international director of the Kiko Network, said Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, had “raised expectations that he would use this G20 moment to take bold action for the planet. Instead, Japan hid behind the Trump administration and didn’t try to build a clear majority of support for climate action and lower ambitions.
“Prime Minister Abe and other G20 leaders need to get serious about their climate commitments and make sure they don’t show up empty-handed for the climate action summit in September.”
US politics
G20G20
ChinaChina
Trump administrationTrump administration
Trade and development Asia Pacific
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