Trump extends tariff deal for China: US President Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days on Monday, at least delaying once again a dangerous showdown between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that “all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same.”
The previous deadline was set to expire at 12.01 am on Tuesday. Had that happened, the US could have ratcheted up taxes on Chinese imports from an already high 30 per cent, and Beijing could have responded by raising retaliatory levies on US exports to China.
Why did Trump extend deadline for China?
The pause buys time for the two countries to work out some of their differences, perhaps clearing the way for a summit later this year between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and it has been welcomed by the US companies doing business with China. Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council, said the extension is “critical” to give the two governments time to negotiate a trade agreement that US businesses hope would improve their market access in China and provide the certainty needed for companies to make medium- and long-term plans.
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“Securing an agreement on fentanyl that leads to a reduction in US tariffs and a rollback of China’s retaliatory measures is acutely needed to restart US agriculture and energy exports,” Stein said.
Trump’s tariff war
Reaching a pact with China remains unfinished business for Trump, who has already upended the global trading system by slapping double-digit tariffs on almost every country on earth. The European Union, Japan and other trading partners agreed to lopsided trade deals with Trump, accepting once unthinkable US high tariffs (15 per cent on Japanese and EU imports, for instance) to ward off something worse.
Trump’s trade policies have turned the United States from one of the most open economies in the world into a protectionist fortress. The average US tariff has gone from around 2.5 per cent at the start of the year to 18.6 per cent, the highest since 1933, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.
(Note: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by The Daily Jagran and has been published through a syndicated feed. Source – PTI)