The leaders of the world’s two largest economies, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, agreed to a temporary truce on trade Saturday at a highly anticipated dinner Saturday in Argentina.
After a two-and-a-half hour discussion, Trump agreed to maintain the 10% tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, and not raise them to 25% “at this time” ahead of a January 1 deadline, according to a White House statement from press secretary Sarah Sanders.
In exchange, China agreed it was willing to purchase a “very substantial” amount of agriculture and energy goods from the United States to help reduce the trade imbalance.
According to the statement, the two leaders agreed to immediately begin negotiations on top US concerns related to forced technology transfer, intellectual property and cyber theft. Both parties agreed to complete negotiations within 90 days. If they fail to reach a deal, the 10% tariffs will rise to 25%.
