US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday he would delay an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods following “productive” trade negotiations.
Duties worth 25% were due to be slapped on US $200 billion worth of Chinese exports on March 1, 2019, a hike on the current 10%, but this has now been pushed back.
I am pleased to report that the U.S. has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues. As a result of these very……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019
The announcement was made at an annual black-tie ball for US governors on February 24 as Trump claimed the talks with Beijing on potentially ending the tariff war were going “very well” and intimated that a new trade deal could be agreed before long.
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“If all works well we’re going to have some very big news over the next week or two,” Trump said. However, he insisted the two sides were still a long way from striking a new trade relationship and that the current tariffs will stay in place.
In response, Chinese negotiators were quoted in state news agency Xinhua that progress had been made but that there are “still some differences that need more time to be ironed out.”
Trump’s remarks are the latest in a trade dispute which began in April 2017 and has so far seen $400 billion placed on US and Chinese goods.
The hike in duties was originally supposed to come into force on January 1, 2019, but this was pushed back two months after Trump and Chinese premier Xi Jinping agreed on a 90-day truce at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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