Osaka
President Donald Trump declared relations with China were “right back on track” after he and President Xi Jinping sought Saturday to de-escalate a prolonged trade war between the economic powerhouses despite doubts about either’s willingness to compromise on a long term solution.
Xinhua, the Chinese state-run news agency, said the leaders had agreed to a new cease-fire in a yearlong trade war, adding that stalled trade talks would resume and the U.S. would hold off on threatened additional tariffs on Chinese goods.
The apparent truce marks a pattern for talks between Trump and Xi, who have professed their friendship with each other and hit the pause button on protectionist measures after their conversations, only to see negotiations later break down over the contentious details.
Taking place on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Japan, the meeting with Xi marked the centerpiece of four days of diplomacy for Trump, whose re-election chances have been put at risk by the trade war that has hurt American farmers and battered global markets. Tensions rose in recent weeks after negotiations collapsed last month.
At a subsequent meeting with Turkey’s president, Trump said talks with Xi went “probably even better than expected.” “The negotiations are continuing,” he said.
“We’ve had an excellent relationship,” Trump told Xi as the meeting opened, “but we want to do something that will even it up with respect to trade.”
Xi, for his part, recounted the era of “ping-pong diplomacy” which helped jump-start U.S.-China relations two generations ago. Since then, he said, “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,” he added.
The United States will not impose any new tariffs on China for now, President Donald Trump said Saturday after high-stakes talks with his Chinese counterpart on the bruising trade war. “At least for the time being,” Washington will not impose new tariffs or remove existing ones, Trump said at a press conference after the G20 summit in Japan´s Osaka. “We will be continuing to negotiate.” The US President said trade negotiations with China were “back on track” after “excellent” talks. — AFP
