Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday said a trade summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping was likely to occur next month, and hailed two days of “very good talks” by negotiators.
The talks were extended through Sunday as officials race to reach a deal ahead of a deadline next week when US duty rates are due to rise sharply. But Trump again said he was considering pushing back the deadline for raising tariffs on more than USD 200 billion in Chinese exports. “We expect to have a meeting sometime in a not too distant future,” he said of the meeting with Xi. “Probably fairly soon in the month of March.” Details remained scant about any concrete progress in the seven-month-old trade war, which has rattled the global markets and prompted stark warnings about the risks to the world economy.
“I think there is a very, very good chance that a deal can be made,” Trump told reporters at the White House on a second day of trade negotiations with Chinese officials. “If we are doing well, I could see extending that” deadline for the end of the three month tariff truce. And Trump said an agreement on currency manipulation will be included in the trade pact. Officials from Beijing also expressed optimism about a positive outcome. “From China, we believe that it is very likely that it will happen,” Chinese trade envoy Liu He said, speaking through an interpreter. Global stock markets were higher on expectations the two sides would avoid further deterioration in their trade relations. Analysts say the two sides are likely to trumpet mutual agreements to resolve the easier parts of the trade dispute — increasing purchases of American goods, more open investment in China and tougher protections for intellectual property and proprietary technology.
The harder parts covering issues like scaling back China’s ambitious industrial strategy for global preeminence, are another question. Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, again warned that the US-China trade tensions a “major risk” to world economic growth.
Since July, the countries have hit out with tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade. While the tariffs alone are having “minimal” effect on global trade, they are damaging business confidence and weighing on stock markets, Lagarde said on Thursday. (AFP)
