As they wrapped up a weekend of negotiations on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, US and Chinese officials said the parties had made significant progress toward a deal.
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Trump and Xi will meet on Thursday on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Gyeongju, South Korea. This is their first direct encounters since the US president’s abrupt departure from office and global trade.
The parties have a “framework” for Trump and Xi to discuss in South Korea, according to US Secretary of State Scott Bessent, who spoke to reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
In a subsequent interview with NBC News, Bessent stated that he anticipated a deal that would defer China’s threatened export restrictions on rare earths and prevent a 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods.
Bessent added that Beijing had agreed to make “substantial” purchases of US agricultural products, which the Treasury Secretary claimed would “feel very good” for US soya bean farmers in an interview with ABC News.
Beijing’s top trade negotiator, He Lifeng, the country’s vice premier, claimed there was “a fundamental consensus” between the parties regarding “arrangements to address each side’s concerns.”
According to a readout from China’s Ministry of Commerce, he claimed they had “proceeded with domestic approval processes” and that they had “finalized specific details.”
In an effort to lessen US-China tensions, Asian stock markets rose on Monday.
Shortly after midday local time, the benchmark indexes rose about 2.1 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, to record highs for Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also experienced significant gains, rising by about 0.85%.
Trump will meet with newly sworn-in Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday after he attended the ASEAN summit.
On Wednesday, the US president will make a trip to South Korea.
Trump has threatened to impose higher levies on China than anywhere else, despite imposing significant tariffs on almost all of its US trade partners.
Countries have been anxiously awaited a resolution to the conflict, hoping Washington and Beijing can stop a full-fledged trade war that could seriously harm the world economy.
Beijing announced earlier this month that it would require businesses from all over the world to obtain a license to export rare earth magnets and some semiconductor materials that have even trace amounts of minerals from China or are produced using Chinese technology, in a significant escalation of US-China tensions.
Concerns are being raised by the proposed regulations, which are scheduled to go into effect on December 1.
The production of numerous high-tech products, including smartphones, electric cars, and fighter jets, is dependent on rare earths, a group of 17 minerals that includes holmium, cerium, and dysprosium.
Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods starting November 1 in response to Beijing’s action.
Source: Aljazeera
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