The 90-day ceasefire gives Beijing time to tackle some of Washington’s biggest concerns but it all rests on just how far China will go
Beijing and Washington may have reached a ceasefire in further tariffs but China is facing a greater challenge to deliver on its promises to change its economic policy, observers said.
Analysts on both sides of the Pacific said the 90-day truce in the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies would buy Beijing time to address some of Washington’s greatest concerns, including intellectual property protections and market access. But much would depend on how far China was willing to go, they said.
After what both sides said was as a “highly successful meeting” between the leaders of the two countries in Buenos Aires on Saturday, US President Donald Trump agreed to hold off on plans to increase in tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese imports from the 10 per cent now to 25 per cent on January 1.
In return, China agreed to “immediately begin negotiations on structural changes with respect to forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cybertheft, services and agriculture”, according to the White House.
But the US could still go ahead with the 25 per cent tariff increase if both sides failed to reach an agreement within the 90 days, it said.
