A Temporary Ceasefire: US-China Trade Standoff Ends

A trade war between the United States and China took shape in the month of April this year. It certainly did not bring any happiness to businesses across many continents.

How did the war break out?

In a nutshell: The United States President Donald J Trump complained that Beijing was doing nothing to cut its large surplus in bilateral trade.

However, on Saturday, Mr. Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have reached a conclusion where it was settled – to halt new trade tariffs for 90 days. The meeting was held on the sidelines of G-20 Buenos Airessummit.

It was the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since the standoff took shape, earlier this year.

According to a report published by BBC, it’s said that the United States agreed not to boost tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods – from 10 to 25 percent on January 1, 2019.

The United States said: China is open to buying a “very substantial” amount of products from various sectors such as industrial, energy, and agriculture.

China, while praising the truce, said both the countries agreed to open up their markets.

White House Version

The Whitehouse statement said: Mr. Trump and Mr. Jinping held a “very successful meeting”. However, it warned of dire consequences: “If at the end of this period of time, the parties are unable to reach an agreement, the 10 percent tariffs will be raised to 25 percent.”

Trump Version

“It’s an incredible deal that would have an incredibly positive impact on farming.”

“What I’d be doing is holding back on tariffs. China will be opening up. China will be getting rid of tariffs,” BBC quoted Mr. Trump as saying.

Yi Version

“In a friendly and candid atmosphere, the two presidents had profound discussions that lasted for two-and-a-half hours. The time was much longer than the schedule,” the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Wang Yi as saying. Mr. Yi is China’s Foreign minister.