The US and China agreed on the outlines of a partial trade accord on Friday, October 11, according to which China would step up its purchases of US agricultural commodities, agree to certain intellectual-property measures and concessions related to financial services and currency.
In exchange to China’s moves, the US agreed to delay the tariff increase due next week when the deal is finalized. Yet, December’s levies are still settled.
Specifically, President Donald Trump tweeted that Chinese buyers had already started purchasing American agricultural products and didn’t wait until the signing of the deal, which is due to three or four weeks.
I agreed not to increase Tariffs from 25% to 30% on October 15th. They will remain at 25%. The relationship with China is very good. We will finish out the large Phase One part of the deal, then head directly into Phase Two. The Phase One Deal can be finalized & signed soon!
… added the US President.
Moreover, if all goes as scheduled, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will ink a deal at a summit of foreign leaders in Santiago, Chile next month, according to the New York Times.
In early 2019, Eurasia ranked the US-China tensions at the second place of the top risks the world would encounter in 2019.
In fear of the US-China trade war and the upcoming tariffs, the US West Coast ports, the Port of Long Beach, Port of Los Angeles, Port of Oakland, Port of Portland, Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma, alerted Trump of disruption in their operations.
