US, CHINA REACH ‘SUBSTANTIAL’ PHASE 1 DEAL TO END TRADE WAR

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday a “very substantial phase one” deal to end the trade war with China in which Washington will shelve higher tariffs on Chinese goods that were slated to come into effect next week. In return, Beijing will buy American agricultural produce worth billions.

The initial deal is expected to be signed by Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet in November in Chile for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Phase two of the deal will follow “almost immediately” after phase one and Trump said there could be a third phase, if needed.

“We’ve come to a very substantial phase one deal,” Trump told reporters in joint remarks with China’s chief negotiator, vice-premier Liu He, in the Oval Office at the White House.

The development halts, if not ends, the escalation in the trade dispute between the world’s two biggest economies triggered last March by Trump’s announcement of tariffs on Chinese goods over several long-standing issues.

Meetings cancelled. Escalators stopped. Official travel limited. UN documents delayed. Air conditioning and heating reduced. Limits on interpretation to the UN’s six official languages. And the fountain outside UN headquarters paid for by US school children and opened in 1952 shut down.

These are some of the measures Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has ordered effective Monday at all UN facilities and operations around the world to deal with the UN’s worst cash crisis in nearly a decade.

The UN chief said in a letter to the heads of all UN entities circulated on Friday that the emergency measures “will affect working conditions and operations until further notice”.

UN management chief Catherine Pollard told the General Assembly’s budget committee on Friday that 128 countries had paid $1.99 billion in dues for the UN’s 2019 operating budget by Oct. 4.

But she said $1.386 billion is owed for this year by 65 countries - including more than $1 billion by the United States.

Pollard said “the regular budget has been facing severe liquidity issues in recent years, with a growing downward trend whereby, each year, the situation becomes more dire than the year before. The cash deficits occur earlier in the year, linger longer and run deeper.”

For the second successive year, she said, the UN has exhausted “all regular budget liquidity reserves”, despite several measures it has taken to reduce expenditures.

Pollard said the payments received so far this year represent only 70% of the total amount assessed, compared to 78% at the same time last year, “resulting in a gap of $230 million”.