Iran Press/America: Donald Trump said their dinner after the G20 summit in Buenos Aires “was an amazing and productive meeting with unlimited possibilities for both the US and China.”
A statement by the White House spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, issued as Trump was on his way back to Washington, listed concessions the Chinese president was said have made, including stopping Chinese exports to the US of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, and the death sentence for convicted traffickers, Guardian reported.
The statement said that Xi, “in a wonderful humanitarian gesture, has agreed to designate fentanyl as a controlled substance, meaning that people selling fentanyl to the United States will be subject to China’s maximum penalty under the law.”
The press statement said Trump would not follow through his threat to raise tariffs on Chinese goods from 10 per cent to 25 per cent in the new year, which he had described as a reprisal for a long history of unfair Chinese trade practices.
The relationship between the US and China has deteriorated in recent months, as the US tariff rate on $200 billion in Chinese goods is set to increase to 25 percent from 10 percent on Jan. 1.
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There were widespread concerns that such a large hike in tariffs could trigger a serious trade war between the two countries, with devastating results for the global economy.
The International Monetary Fund warned on October 10 that the US-China trade war was taking a toll and emerging markets were struggling with tighter liquidity and capital outflows.
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According to Sanders, Xi agreed that China would purchase “a not yet agreed upon, but very substantial, amount of agricultural, energy, industrial, and other product from the United States to reduce the trade imbalance between our two countries”.
The Chinese government also welcomed the outcome of the talks.
“The two presidents agreed that the two sides can and must get bilateral relations right,” Wang Yi, China’s lead diplomat, told reporters in Buenos Aires. “Discussion on economic and trade issues was very positive and constructive. The two heads of state reached consensus to halt the mutual increase of new tariffs.”
Wang did not give as many details as the White House, but said: “China is willing to increase imports in accordance with the needs of its domestic market and the people’s needs, including marketable products from the United States, to gradually ease the imbalance in two-way trade.” 101/202
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