Talks between US-China result in truce

The United States and China are pulling back from the brink of a trade war after the world’s two biggest economies reported progress in talks aimed at bringing down America’s massive trade deficit with Beijing.

“We are putting the trade war on hold,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday.

After high-level talks Thursday and Friday in Washington, Beijing agreed in a joint statement with the US to “substantially reduce” America’s trade deficit with China, but did not commit to cut the gap by any specific amount. The Trump administration had sought to slash the deficit by $200 billion.

Still, Mnuchin said the two countries had made “meaningful progress” and that the administration has agreed to put on hold proposed tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese products. China had promised to retaliate in a move that threatened a tit for tat trade war.

He said they expect to see a big increase — 35 percent to 45 percent this year alone — in US farm sales to China. Mnuchin also forecast a doubling in sales of US energy products to the Chinese market, increasing energy exports by $50 billion to $60 billion in the next three years to five years.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who has been part of the US negotiating team, will go to China soon to follow up on last week’s discussions, Mnuchin said.

In Saturday’s statement, Beijing committed to “significantly increase” its purchases of American goods and services, saying the increase would “meet the growing consumption needs of the Chinese people and the need for high-quality economic development.” Last year, the US had a record $376 billion deficit with China in the trade of goods; that was the largest by far with any nation.

Trade analysts were not surprised that China refused to agree to a numerical target for cutting the trade gap, but they said the talks probably were more successful in easing trade tensions.

“The Trump administration seems eager to engineer at minimum a temporary peace with China to ensure a smooth runup to the Kim-Trump summit in June,” Cornell University economist Eswar Prasad said, referring to the June 12 meeting scheduled between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

If there is success in the US-China discussions, analysts suggest it likely would involve the countries’ presidents this fall before the November elections. /