WASHINGTON, Dec 7 — US President Donald Trump said today 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 US$300 billion (RM1.2 trillion) 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 yesterday appeared to try to ease concerns by saying it would “immediately” implement measures agreed under the truce. — AFP
