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China: No Trade War With USA

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Fears of a trade war between the United States and China eased Sunday after China announced that the two nations have reached an agreement that will result in more Americans goods being purchased by China.

The exact amount of increased purchases was not announced. On Friday, Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, had suggested the number would be about $200 billion, Bloomberg reported. China, however, disputed that figure.

Department of Commerce data showed that in 2017, China had a $375 billion trade imbalance with the United States, The Independent reported.

Vice Premier Liu He, an envoy from China’s President Xi Jinping, characterized the agreement as a first step.

“The two sides reached a consensus, will not fight a trade war, and will stop increasing tariffs on each other,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying on Sunday, Yahoo! News reported.

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“At the same time it must be realized that unfreezing the ice cannot be done in a day, solving the structural problems of the economic and trade relations between the two countries will take time,” he said.

In a commentary published Sunday, Xinhua called the agreement a “win-win,” The Guardian reported.

President Donald Trump has made reducing the trade imbalance with China one of his major economic and foreign policy priorities.

“Both sides agreed on meaningful increases in United States agriculture and energy exports. The United States will send a team to China to work out the details,” said a statement released by the White House.

“The delegations also discussed expanding trade in manufactured goods and services. There was consensus on the need to create favorable conditions to increase trade in these areas,” the statement said.

“To meet the growing consumption needs of the Chinese people and the need for high-quality economic development, China will significantly increase purchases of United States goods and services. This will help support growth and employment in the United States,” added the statement, which said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer represented the Trump administration in the talks.

News of the agreement will be well-received by stock markets, said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors Ltd. in Sydney, Australia.

“Investors had been fretting,” Oliver said. “U.S. energy, agriculture, manufacturing and services companies with significant exposure to exports to China will be key beneficiaries. But it’s also a big positive across Asia given supply chain linkages to Chinese companies that ultimately export to the U.S.”

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Some voices noted that differences will not vanish overnight.

“This round of talks is generally positive,” said Li Yong, a senior fellow at the China Association of International Trade in Beijing. “Trade tensions will ease gradually, but there still could be frictions.

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Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues




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