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US-CHINA-TRADE-DIPLOMACY
Trump says China trade talks ‘going very well’
WASHINGTON, Dec 7, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump said Friday
negotiations to defuse the high stakes trade conflict with China are “going
very well.”
Trump met China’s leader Xi Jinping at the weekend and agreed to a 90-day
tariff truce in order to find a more permanent solution to the costly
dispute, but messages since have been mixed, roiling global stock markets
“China talks are going very well!” Trump tweeted.
Washington and Beijing have exchanged steep tariffs on more than $300
billion in total two-way trade, locking them in a conflict that has begun to
eat into profits.
Traders were initially buoyed by the apparent deal agreed at the G20
meeting in Buenos Aires but questions were quickly raised about the details –
– and whether the world’s top two economies could actually resolve their
differences.
That was compounded by news that a top executive at Chinese telecoms giant
Huawei had been arrested in Canada and faces extradition to the US over
allegations the firm had broken sanctions linked to Iran.
The arrest of Meng Wanzhou fuelled concerns about already fraught
relations between Washington and Beijing and the future of the trade talks.
China on Thursday appeared to try to ease concerns by saying it would
“immediately” implement measures agreed under the truce.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1941 hrs