Kuala Lumpur, Oct 26: Trade tensions between the United States and China appeared to cool on Sunday ahead of a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, with the Chinese government suggesting that a mutual understanding had been reached between the world’s two largest economies.
The talks followed China’s placing limits on the exporting of rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies and Trump’s threat of an additional 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods. The conflict has been poised to weaken economic growth worldwide.
China’s top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, told reporters that the two sides had reached a “preliminary consensus” on areas of dispute and would seek to further stabilise the relationship. Trump also expressed confidence that an agreement was at hand.
“They want to make a deal and we want to make a deal,” he said. Trump reiterated his plan to visit China in the future and suggested that Xi could come to Washington or Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida.
The announcement came at the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, hosted in Kuala Lumpur, with Trump seeking to burnish his reputation as an international dealmaker.
Yet the path to those deals has involved serious disruptions at home and abroad, with his tariff hikes scrambling the global economy and a US government shutdown that has him feuding with Democrats.
Trump attends Thailand, Cambodia ceasefire ceremony
At the summit, Thailand and Cambodia signed an expanded ceasefire agreement on Sunday during a ceremony attended by Trump, whose threats of economic pressure prodded the two nations to halt skirmishes along their disputed border earlier this year.
Thailand will release Cambodian prisoners, and Cambodia will begin withdrawing heavy artillery as part of the first phase of the deal. Regional observers will monitor the situation to ensure fighting doesn’t restart.
“We did something that a lot of people said couldn’t be done,” Trump said. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet called it a “historic day,” and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the agreement creates “the building blocks for a lasting peace.”
Trump touched down in the Malaysian capital shortly before 0200 GMT, where he performed his trademark campaign trail dance with local performers and waved an American flag in one hand and a Malaysian flag in the other.
His trip will also include visits to Japan and South Korea and a planned meeting with Xi.
The president signed economic agreements with Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, some of them aimed at increasing trade involving critical minerals.
The US wants to rely less on China, which has limited exports of key components in technology manufacturing.
“It’s very important that we cooperate as willing partners with each other to ensure that we can have smooth supply chains, secure supply chains, for the quality of life, for our people and security,” said US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. (AP)
