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China’s Vice Commerce Minister says talks with US on trade rational and candid

China’s Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang said early Wednesday that communication with the United States (US) has been rational and candid, adding that the two sides agreed on a consensus on the Geneva meeting. 

Key quotes

Talks with the US had involved in-depth exchanges.
Communication has been rational and candid.
Two sides agreed on a consensus at the Geneva meeting.
Will report on a framework to Leaders.
Hope Progress Here is conducive to increasing Trust Between China and the US.
Hope this injects positive Energy into World Economic Development.
Our communication has been professional, rational, in-depth and candid.
We hope progress achieved in London talks can be conducive for enhancing trust.

Market reaction   

At the time of writing, the AUD/USD pair is trading 0.09% higher on the day at 0.6527. 

US-China Trade War FAQs

Generally speaking, a trade war is an economic conflict between two or more countries due to extreme protectionism on one end. It implies the creation of trade barriers, such as tariffs, which result in counter-barriers, escalating import costs, and hence the cost of living.

An economic conflict between the United States (US) and China began early in 2018, when President Donald Trump set trade barriers on China, claiming unfair commercial practices and intellectual property theft from the Asian giant. China took retaliatory action, imposing tariffs on multiple US goods, such as automobiles and soybeans. Tensions escalated until the two countries signed the US-China Phase One trade deal in January 2020. The agreement required structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime and pretended to restore stability and trust between the two nations. However, the Coronavirus pandemic took the focus out of the conflict. Yet, it is worth mentioning that President Joe Biden, who took office after Trump, kept tariffs in place and even added some additional levies.

The return of Donald Trump to the White House as the 47th US President has sparked a fresh wave of tensions between the two countries. During the 2024 election campaign, Trump pledged to impose 60% tariffs on China once he returned to office, which he did on January 20, 2025. With Trump back, the US-China trade war is meant to resume where it was left, with tit-for-tat policies affecting the global economic landscape amid disruptions in global supply chains, resulting in a reduction in spending, particularly investment, and directly feeding into the Consumer Price Index inflation.

Author

Lallalit Srijandorn

Lallalit Srijandorn is a Parisian at heart. She has lived in France since 2019 and now becomes a digital entrepreneur based in Paris and Bangkok.

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