US, China edge closer to trade deal before Xi–Trump summit

Both the leaders are scheduled to meet on October 30 on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, to sign off on the deal terms.

China and the US have agreed on a gamut of contentious issues as part of a trade deal ahead of a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping later this week.
Talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur had eliminated the threat of Trump’s 100-per cent tariffs on Chinese imports beginning November 1, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Trump too was optimistic about a deal.

Trump arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), his first stop in a five-day Asia tour that is scheduled to end on Thursday with a meeting with Xi.

Talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit had eliminated the threat of Trump’s 100-per cent tariffs on Chinese imports beginning November 1, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

“I would expect that the threat of the 100-per cent has gone away, as has the threat of the immediate imposition of the Chinese initiating a worldwide export control regime,” Bessent told a US TV channel.

“I think we’re going to have a deal with China,” Trump said after the weekend talks.

Bessent also said he expects China to delay implementation of its rare earth minerals and magnets licensing regime by a year while the policy is reconsidered.

“I think we have a very successful framework for the leaders to discuss on Thursday,” Bessent was quoted as saying by global newswires after he and US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and top trade negotiator Li Chenggang for their fifth round of in-person discussions since May.

Both sides reached a ‘preliminary consensus’ and will next go through their respective internal approval processes, Li said.

“The US position has been tough, whereas China has been firm in defending its own interests and rights,” Li said. “We have experienced very intense consultations and engaged in constructive exchanges in exploring solutions and arrangements to address these concerns,” he added.

Both sides agreed to pause some punitive actions and found “a path forward where we can have more access to rare earths from China, we can try to balance out our trade deficit with sales from the United States,” Greer told a US TV network.

Bessent said he anticipates a tariff truce with China will be extended beyond its November 10 expiry, and China will revive substantial purchases of US soybeans after buying none in September.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)