《TAIPEI TIMES》 US-China trade talks to resume

/ AFP, OSAKA, Japan

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping （習近平） yesterday called a truce in their trade dispute, as Washington vowed to hold off on further tariffs and declared negotiations with China “back on track.”

The ceasefire came in a hotly anticipated meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka.

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There was little in the way of concrete details on what was agreed, but Trump said that Washington had committed not to impose any new tariffs and that the two sides would continue talks.

“We won’t be adding an additional tremendous amount of US$350 billion left which could be taxed or could be tariffed. We’re not doing that, we are going to work with China on where we left off to see if we can make a deal,” Trump told a news conference. “We will be continuing to negotiate.”

“The base-case scenario was met at G20 and while we are no worse for wear, let’s see what the G20 hangover brings,” Vanguard Markets analyst Stephen Innes said.

Trump said he was ready for a “historic” deal with China as the leaders began their meeting, and Xi told him that dialogue was better than confrontation.

In their final statement, the two said that “most importantly, trade and geopolitical tensions have intensified,” echoing hard-won language from their finance ministers at a meeting earlier this month.

There were few more concrete details about the closed-door discussions, but Trump suggested a potentially softer position on Huawei Technologies Co （華為）.

He said that US companies could sell equipment in cases “where there’s no great national security problem” to the Chinese firm.

It was not immediately clear whether the comments marked a material change on Huawei.

Protectionism and tariffs wars have proved a major headwind for a world economy already buffeted by geopolitical tensions.

The EU and the South American trade bloc Mercosur on Friday offered a ray of trade hope by sealing a blockbuster deal after 20 years of talks, with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hailing it as a “strong message” in support of “rules-based trade.”

The EU is now the first major partner with which Mercosur has struck a trade pact.

After about 40 rounds of talks, the Europeans have reached a provisional deal with the trade bloc founded by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The EU and Mercosur are together responsible for 720 million people and a quarter of global GDP, the government of Brazil says.

In terms of tariff cuts, the trade deal could be the EU’s most lucrative to date, with about 4 billion euros （US$4.56 billion） of duties saved on exports, four times more than its deal with Japan.

Once implemented, it would eliminate 99 percent of agricultural and industrial tariffs on both sides and facilitate exchanges in services and government procurement, reduce technical barriers, and effect sanitary and phytosanitary measures and intellectual property.

In its biggest concession, the EU would open its markets to South America agricultural products via quotas: 99 tonnes of beef per year at a preferential rate of 7.5 percent, a supplementary quota on 180,000 tonnes of sugar and another one on 100,000 tonnes of poultry.

Before it takes effect, the deal needs final approval from Mercosur, the European Parliament and constituent countries, which Brazil’s government has conceded that it could take years.

Additional reporting by Reuters

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES