Washington: The US and China have agreed to extend their trade-war truce by two months, to give more time for a potentially larger deal between the two countries, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said.
Bessent made these remarks Wednesday shortly after Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Washington.
Chinese President Xi and US President Donald Trump had agreed to a one-year trade truce at a meeting in South Korea last October after a tit-for-tat tariff war.
The deal was set to expire in November and will now be extended to January 10, Bessent told Fox News.
“We will extend what we call the ‘Busan Agreement’ – the economic detente between the two countries that was scheduled to end November 10 – that is going to be extended until January 10,” Bessent said in an interview on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier,” adding that both countries are still trying to figure out a potentially larger deal.
However, Chinese officials have not yet confirmed the extension of the trade truce.
Bessent said it’s possible a larger economic package will be agreed upon by January. But it’s also possible to “just roll the current deal” and extend it further.
Bessent’s comments came shortly after Xi landed in the US at Joint Base Andrews, where Trump met him on the tarmac. The pair are set to meet at the White House Thursday, followed by a state dinner. The visit is Xi’s first to the US in over a decade.
“There are some deliverables that have not been perfect on the Chinese side, so we also want to see, now that we’ve sat down and told them our expectations, if over the coming months they can be more fulsome in enacting the agreement,” he said.
Xi is expected to discuss trade tariffs, technology, AI, military ties, conflicts in West Asia, and the Russia-Ukraine war, during his meetings with Trump.
“I will be talking about that and many other subjects, but it’s all coming along, including that,” Trump said when asked whether the Iran war will figure in discussions with Xi.
The initial arrangement was forged last year in Busan, South Korea. In that, both sides rolled back restrictions on critical minerals and high-tech exports. They also extended a pause on their triple-digit tariffs.
Since Sunday, Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer have been holding talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and other officials to lay the groundwork for the closely watched state visit.
Bessent and his Chinese counterpart He met at the World Bank in Washington on Wednesday, where the pair talked about expanding the truce, Bessent said.
Bessent and Greer announced that the US and China had proposed exchanging alerts about AI-related hacking incidents, especially those that concern national security.
Orissa POST – Odisha’s No.1 English Daily
