xi and trump made progress toward defusing a damaging tariffs war

CrisisInvesting

By Roberta Rampton and Matt Spetalnick
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held high-stakes trade talks in Argentina on Saturday, and both sides signaled they made progress toward defusing a damaging tariffs war between the world's two largest economies.
With the United States and China locked in an economic dispute that has unnerved global financial markets and weighed on the world economy, Trump and Xi sat down with their aides for a working dinner at the conclusion of a two-day gathering of world leaders in Buenos Aires.
After the 2-1/2 hour meeting, White House chief economist Larry Kudlow told reporters the talks went "very well," but offered no specifics as he boarded Air Force One headed home to Washington with Trump.
Suggesting that at least a partial truce may have been reached to reduce trade tensions, Chinese state television said "no additional tariffs will be imposed after January 1, and negotiations between the two sides will continue," without giving details.
Beijing's goal was to persuade Trump to abandon plans to hike tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25 percent in January, from 10 percent at present. Trump has threatened to go ahead with that and possibly add tariffs on $267 billion of imports if there is no progress in the talks.
The closely watched encounter came shortly after the Group of 20 industrialized nations on Saturday backed an overhaul of the global body that regulates international trade disputes, marking a victory for Trump, a sharp critic of the organization.
Trump told Xi at the start of their meeting he hoped they would achieve "something great" on trade for both countries.
He struck a positive note as he sat across from Xi, despite the U.S. president's earlier threats to impose new tariffs on Chinese imports as early as the start of next year.
He suggested that the "incredible relationship" he and Xi had established would be "the very primary reason" they could make progress on trade, though he offered no sense of how they might resolve the main issue dividing their countries.
Xi told Trump that only through cooperation could the United States and China serve the interest of peace and prosperity. Washington and Beijing have also increasingly been at odds over security in the Asia-Pacific region.
At the same time, Trump again raised with Xi his concern about the synthetic opioid fentanyl being sent from China to the United States, urging the Chinese leader to place it in a "restricted category" of drugs that would criminalize it.
The talks between Trump and Xi were widely seen as the most important meeting of U.S. and Chinese leaders in years.
Afterwards, the editor of a major Chinese state-run newspaper also had a positive assessment of the outcome.
"Based on information I received, talks between Xi and Trump went well and consensus was reached," Hu Xijin, the editor of the Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, wrote on Twitter, without giving details.
WTO REFORMS
Earlier on Saturday, the leaders of all the world's top economies called for reforms to the crisis-stricken World Trade Organization in a final statement from their summit.
Officials expressed relief that agreement on the summit communique was reached after negotiators worked through the night to overcome differences over language on climate change.
The final text recognized trade as an important engine of global growth but made only a passing reference to "the current trade issues" after the U.S. delegation won a battle to keep any mention of protectionism out of the statement.
In addition to tariffs on Chinese goods, Trump has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminums imports into the United States this year. Numerous countries have filed litigation at the WTO to contest the levies.
The United States is unhappy with what it says is the WTO's failure to hold Beijing to account for not opening up its economy as envisioned when China joined the body in 2001. The European Union is also pushing for sweeping changes to how the WTO operates.
"Notwithstanding our differences, we have been able to agree a path forward at the G20," French President Emanuel Macron told a news conference. "The United States has endorsed a clear multilateralist text."
G20 delegates said negotiations on the final summit statement proceeded more smoothly than at a meeting of Asian leaders two weeks ago, where disagreements on protectionism and unfair trading practices prevented a consensus.

European officials said a reference to refugees and migration - a sensitive issue for Trump's administration - was excised to ensure consensus.

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特习宴后白宫发表声明 美中贸易战暂时停火

2018年12月2日 10:44
美国之音
美国总统特朗普和中国国家主席习近平在布宜诺斯艾利斯共进工作晚餐。(2018年12月1日)
美国总统特朗普和中国国家主席习近平在布宜诺斯艾利斯共进工作晚餐。(2018年12月1日)

星期六夜晚，白宫就美国总统特朗普与中国国家主席习近平在布宜诺斯艾利斯共进工作晚宴发表声明，称这是一次“高度成功的会谈”，并宣布明年1月1日不对中国产品增加更多关税，而中国则同意购买大量的美国产品，包括立即购买农产品。双方还同意就“结构性改变”的问题展开谈判。白宫声明全文翻译如下：

美国总统唐纳德·J·特朗普和中国国家习近平完成了两人及双方最高级代表在阿根廷布宜诺斯艾利斯举行的“高度成功的会谈”。

非常重要的是，习主席做出了不起的人道主义姿态，同意把芬太尼列为“管控物质”，这意味着向美国出售芬太尼的人将依法受到中国最重的处罚。

在贸易问题上，特朗普总统同意在2019年1月1日，他将把对价值2千亿美元的产品的关税率保持在10%，而不是在那一天提高到25%。中国将同意从美国购买仍未商定但数量非常大的农业、能源、工业和其它产品，以减少我们两国之间的贸易不平衡。中国已同意立即从我们的农民那里购买农产品。

特朗普总统和习近平主席同意立即开始有关结构性改变的谈判。这些结构性改变涉及强制技术转让、知识产权保护、非关税壁垒、网络入侵和网络盗窃、服务业和农业。双方同意，他们会努力在未来90天内完成谈判。如果双方在这个期限内未能达成协议，10%的关税将会被提高至25%。

双方还一致认为，朝鲜问题取得了巨大进展；特朗普总统将和习主席一起，并与金正恩委员长一道，努力实现一个无核的朝鲜半岛。特朗普总统表达了他对金委员长的友谊和尊敬。

习主席也表示，如果先前未获批准的高通-恩智浦协议再次呈交于他，他对批准协议持开放态度。

特朗普总统表明：“这是一场精彩的、富有成果的会谈，对美国和中国具有无限可能性。与习主席合作，是我的荣幸。”

白宫就美中元首工作晚宴发表声明
白宫就美中元首工作晚宴发表声明

CrisisInvesting

NEXT TERM OF PRESIDENCY MAY BE POSSIBLE IF FED NO LONGER RAISE INTEREST RATE .

TRADE WAR BETWEEN CHINA AND USA paused