President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have agreed to a limited trade truce following their first in-person meeting in six years, easing immediate tensions in a long-running dispute that has hurt both economies, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
The meeting, held Oct. 30 at Gimhae Air Base in South Korea, produced what WSJ described as a “temporary truce” between the world’s two largest economies. The accord includes a U.S. tariff reduction and several pledges by Beijing.
“The U.S. is cutting tariffs on China by 10%,” Trump said in the WSJ story, “in exchange for a promise by China to take very strong action on chemicals used to produce fentanyl.” Following the reduction, tariffs on Chinese imports will still average 47%, he added.
The reduced tariffs have positive implications for U.S. marine manufacturers and dealers, as does the agreement between the countries to suspend reciprocal port fees on each other’s vessels for one year. These measures are aimed at reducing the risk of sudden increases in costs involving imports from China.
Beijing, in turn, said it will ease its yearlong restrictions on exports of processed rare-earth minerals for one year. Those restrictions had “badly hurt U.S. businesses,” the WSJ reported. China also agreed to purchase American soybeans, a move welcomed by U.S. farmers reeling from lost sales amid the trade dispute.
China’s Commerce Ministry confirmed the main points of the agreement — including the soybean purchases, cooperation on fentanyl and easing of rare-earth export controls — according to the report. The ministry also said both sides agreed to suspend for one year new export restrictions targeting subsidiaries of already blacklisted entities.
