President Trump delays 1 March China deadline

The 1 March deadline set by the US for progress with China on trade is to be delayed, President Trump said last night.

The President took to Twitter to announce that the US will not levy additional tariffs on Chinese imports, as previously threatened, due to “substantial progress” in the current trade talks.

“I am pleased to report that the US has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues,” he tweeted.

“As a result of these very productive talks, I will be delaying the US increase in tariffs now scheduled for March 1. Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement. A very good weekend for US and China!”

Although welcome news in terms of avoiding another escalation in the US-China trade war, there remains a number of flashpoints that could derail progress.

The US case against Chinese telecoms firm Huawei will be heard in Seattle on Thursday, a dispute which has become inevitably tangled in the trade tensions. China’s foreign ministry has previously issued scathing statements against the US on the case, accusing Washington of possessing political motives.

Chinese state media Xinhua said in a commentary that, despite the positive development, “there are still some differences that need more time to be ironed out.”

Markets were buoyant in response to the breakthrough, but analysts have cautioned that a cooling trade war will not stem the global slowdown, CNBC reports, and China’s economic deceleration is likely to continue – an issue that will be discussed by Danny Quah, Dean and Li Ka Shing Professor in Economics at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, at Asia House this week.

Professor Quah will speak on ‘The global impact of Chinese slowdown’ on Tuesday 26 February