Crucial US-China trade talks on today

THE world awaits the results of a meeting today between American and Chinese officials in Washington, DC, on the long-unresolved trade war between the United States and China, which has affected economies around the world, including ours.

US President Donald Trump announced last Sunday that he was ready to increase the US tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports if nothing substantial comes out of today’s meeting. An earlier meeting had been held in Beijing, described by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as ”productive,” but US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said later that China appeared to be pulling back from some earlier commitments.

This may explain President Trump’s new threat to hike US tariffs on Chinese goods – from the present 10 percent to 25 percent. The president also said he was considering a further 25 percent tariff on $325

billion of other Chinese goods – essentially targeting all products imported to the US from China.

The US-China trade war has affected all international trade, as the two countries also import from and export to many other countries. Because of the exchange of tariffs in their trade war, their people have also suffered from increased consumer prices.

Basically, the US goal is to reduce its trade deficit with China. They appeared to be well on the way to reaching an agreement that would have ended their trade war. But President Trump’s new threats indicate new problems have come up.

We and the rest of the world can only hope that the two giant nations will be able to settle what differences still stand in the way to an end to their trade war. We will thus be closely following developments in the meeting of their trade officials in Washington today.