US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent assured that negotiations with China made it possible to close a “framework agreement” to avoid the imposition of additional 100% tariffs on Chinese products.
USA and China reached a framework agreement to avoid imposing additional 100% tariffs on Chinese productsaccording to statements by the Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. In doing so, they paved the way for a potential trade deal that will be discussed between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this week.
The first stop on Donald Trump’s Asian tour
The advance occurred during the first leg of Trump’s week-long diplomatic tour of Asia with the aim of easing tensions between the two largest economies in the world, after weeks of escalatory actions that both countries imposed on each other.
Trump wages a trade war against the Asian giant.
“I think we have reached a meaningful framework for the two leaders to meet next Thursday and avoid tariffs,” Bessent said in statements to the US network ABC from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He treasury secretary He did not give details of the agreement reached, but indicated that there will be “some kind of postponement” about the controls on the export of rare earths announced by Beijing. These minerals, which China possesses in large quantities, were one of the main reasons of trade tensions between the two powers.
For his part, the Chinese representative for International Trade, Li Chenggang, confirmed a “preliminary consensus“between the two countries in the commercial field during contacts held in Malaysia, according to Chinese media.
Now all eyes are on the expected meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea this Thursday, which is already marked by doubts about whether it will really take place.
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Tensions between the US and China: restriction on exports
Frictions between both countries increased rapidly in September after the US expanded its export blacklist to significantly restrict more Chinese companies’ access to American technologywhile China tightened its own export controls on rare earth minerals.
In this way, Beijing’s expansion of restrictions on these critical minerals, of which China has a near-monopoly role in processing, led Trump to promise new 100% tariffs on Chinese importswhich were originally supposed to come into force in November.
Source: Ambito
