Ceasefire called in US-China tradewar

The United States and China have reached a 90-day ceasefire in a trade dispute that has rattled financial markets and threatened world economic growth.

The breakthrough came after a dinner meeting yesterday between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires.

Trump agreed to hold off on plans to raise tariffs January 1 on US$200 billion (NZ$290b) in Chinese goods.

The Chinese agreed to buy a ‘‘not yet agreed upon, but very substantial amount of agricultural, energy, industrial’’ and other products from the United States to reduce America’s huge trade deficit with China, the White House said.

The truce buys time for the two countries to work out their differences in a dispute over Beijing’s aggressive drive to supplant US technological dominance.

In another long-sought concession to the US, China agreed to label fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid responsible for tens of thousands of American drug deaths annually, as a controlled substance.

The Trump-Xi meeting was the marquee event of Trump’s whirlwind two-day trip to Argentina for the G-20 summit after the president canceled a sitdown with Russian President Vladimir Putin over mounting tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Trump also canceled a news conference yesterday, citing respect for the Bush family following the death of former President George H.W. Bush.

Trump said Bush’s death put a ‘‘damper’’ on what he described as a ‘‘very important meeting’’ with Xi.

The United States and China are locked in a dispute over their trade imbalance and Beijing’s tech policies.

Washington accuses China of deploying predatory tactics in its tech drive, including stealing trade secrets and forcing American firms to hand over technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market.