According to Reuters, U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said U.S.-China relations had taken a big step forward over the weekend after he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to hold off on new tariffs and urged Beijing to finalize a trade deal with Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted:
My meeting in Argentina with President Xi of China was an extraordinary one. Relations with China have taken a BIG leap forward! Very good things will happen. We are dealing from great strength, but China likewise has much to gain if and when a deal is completed. Level the field!
Initially, the US had laid out a list of more than 800 strategically important imports from China that would be subject to a 25% tariff starting in July.
However, China did not hold back, and decided to retaliate. Specifically, the Chinese Government imposed 25% tariffs on 659 US products, ranging from soybeans and autos to seafood.
A recent report on soybeans trade resulted that the trade war between US and China is making its impact more apparent. Namely, US exports between September and October are less by 41%, as well as the exports to China (96%). However, there is an increase to shipments elsewhere (86%).
Furthermore, major shippers around the globe had expressed their concerns about the tariffs and the trade war between US and China and it is sure that this truce will seemingly benefit shipping trade.
Nevertheless, there are many doubts around the global market whether this truce on the Sino-American trade dispute would lead to a long-term deal as the US has offered nothing more than a 90-day deadline, after which it will increase tariffs on $200bn of Chinese imports from 10 per cent to 25 per cent as it was planned to do on January 1.
