Trade talks: tariffs, TikTok: preliminary agreement between USA and China

China and the USA have come closer in the customs and trade dispute. Both sides have reached a preliminary agreement, said Li Chenggang, vice secretary at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, after talks with the US side. This must now “go through an internal approval process” on both sides. China initially did not provide any specific information about the contents.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also spoke of positive negotiations in Kuala Lumpur, which are a precursor to the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday. Then it will become clear whether a deal will be reached.

Trump said on the sidelines of the summit in Malaysia: “I think we will make a good deal with China.”

According to a transcript of the interview, Bessent told CBS News: He did not want to anticipate the heads of state, but he assumed that the US threat to impose extra tariffs on imports of Chinese products from November 1st was off the table.

This also applies to an export control system that China could introduce, Bessent told CBS News. It’s about rare earths.

In the interview, Bessent also gave soybean farmers in the USA hope that the boycott on the Chinese side could be ended. Details have also been clarified so that the TikTok deal can be completed. The Chinese social media platform must sell its business in the US.

Over the weekend, China and the United States held the fifth round of trade talks in Malaysia to resolve the conflict that has been going on for months.

The dispute has been going on for many months

The customs dispute has been dragging on for many months. Both countries had imposed surcharges of more than 100 percent on imports from the other country: Since April, the USA had gradually increased import tariffs on Chinese goods to up to 145 percent. China responded with counter tariffs of up to 125 percent and imposed export controls on strategically important raw materials.

Then there was a pause in tariffs for the threatened increases and there were negotiations. Recently, Trump even spoke of up to 157 percent tariffs that China would face if there is no agreement.

Meanwhile, Trump has brought up a visit by Xi to the USA without providing any more specific information. On the sidelines of a summit in Malaysia, the Republican initially spoke of the planned meeting on Thursday in South Korea.

Trump then mentioned his already announced plans to visit China early next year and then, without mentioning Xi’s name again, added a possible meeting in the USA. The US President named Washington or Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach as places – that is Trump’s golf property in Florida.

Trump did not provide any further information as to whether there were already concrete plans for such a meeting or whether it was an initiative that had not been agreed upon, nor did he provide a possible date. The German Press Agency asked the Chinese Foreign Ministry for a statement.

It would not be the first time that Xi traveled to the USA. During Trump’s first term in office, China’s president was already at Mar-a-Lago in 2017. In 2015, then US President Barack Obama welcomed Xi to the White House.