President Trump said the U.S. would resume trade talks with Beijing and would hold off on imposing new tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods.
The announcement followed a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Osaka, Japan, during the G-20 summit with world economic leaders.
“We’re right back on track, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters on Saturday. He said the U.S. wouldn’t be lifting the existing 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods but would refrain from the adding tariffs on $300 billion worth of goods for the time being. He indicated that the U.S. could still forward go forward with them if talks broke down again.
Trump told reporters that as part of the agreement the U.S. would allow American firms to sell components to Chinese telecom company Huawei provided there was “no great national security problem.” The U.S. has labeled Huawei a national security threat, limited its ability to do business in the U.S., and pressured other countries to freeze it out as well. China had agreed in response to purchase an unspecified amount of U.S. agricultural products.
“China hopes that the United States can meet China halfway, and that the two sides will make joint efforts to resolve existing problems,” said a statement released by China’s official Xinhua News Agency.
Difficult issues remain in the talks. Beijing has demanded the tariffs be completely lifted as part of any deal but Trump has not indicated that the U.S. is about to lift any of the existing ones. No date was given for when talks would officially resume.
“We’re holding on tariffs and they are going to buy farm product. This doesn’t mean there is going be as deal. But they would like to make a deal, I can tell you that. If we could make a deal, it could be a very historic event,” he said.
