Trump Says Beijing Making ‘Agricultural Purchases’ Under ‘Phase One’ of US-China Deal
China’s Commerce Ministry said earlier that negotiators from Beijing and Washington have achieved significant progress in various areas during the latest round of bilateral high-level trade talks in DC.
US President Donald Trump said in a series of tweets on Sunday that the 25 percent tariffs on Chinese goods would remain in place, noting, however, that “the relationship with China is very good”.
Trump also commended in a follow-up tweet that Beijing had “ALREADY BEGUN AGRICULTURAL PURCHASES”, referring to a much-anticipated trade China-US trade deal.
Trump said that Beijing and Washington had reached the first phase of a trade deal, having agreed on currency exchange, technology transfer, intellectual property, financial services and the purchase of up to $50 billion worth of US agricultural goods by China.
The high-level trade talks were held ahead of Washington’s planned increase of trade tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods from 25 percent to 30 percent starting 15 October.
However, on Friday, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Washington will not raise tariffs next week.
A trade row between the world’s two largest economies erupted in June 2018 when the United States imposed the first round of tariffs on Chinese exports, prompting Beijing to respond in kind. Since that time, the two countries have exchanged tit-for-tat moves in a full-blown trade war but have also continued to negotiate to resolve their commerce-related differences.
