US President Donald Trump said Monday he had had an “extraordinary” meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Argentina.
“My meeting in Argentina with President Xi of China was an extraordinary one. Relations with China have taken a BIG leap forward! Very good things will happen. We are dealing from great strength, but China likewise has much to gain if and when a deal is completed. Level the field!” Trump said.
Trump’s comment follows an earlier statement of vice president of China operations at the US-China Business Council, Jacob Parker, that the outcome of the most recent meeting between Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping would allow to delay possible further escalation of a trade war between the two countries and to find a long-term solution for better bilateral relations.
On Saturday, Trump and Xi held a meeting on the G20 summit’s sidelines. Washington announced that Trump agreed to suspend plans of raising the tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products from 10 percent to 25 percent starting from January 1, 2019, in order to pave the way for trade talks with Beijing, but warned that if the trade talks do not succeed within the next 90 days, the tariffs will be raised to 25 percent as planned. Meanwhile, the Xinhua news agency also reported, citing the Chinese Foreign Ministry, that the two countries had agreed to expedite talks toward eliminating all additional tariffs.
Tensions between the United States and China rose in May when the US administration said it would levy extra taxes on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, bringing that figure up to $250 billion over the next few months. China retaliated with tariffs on $110 billion of US imports.
Source: AFP
