US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping might be poised to sign a long-awaited trade agreement on Thursday, said Trump prior to commencing their crucial meeting in Busan, South Korea.
“Could sign a deal today," the two-time US President said, to resolve their trade war. Moreover, as the two leaders took the table, Xi told Trump through a translator that trade negotiators from both countries had reached a “basic consensus” on a deal, reported Reuters.
"A few days ago, in a latest round of consultation, our two economic and trade teams reached a basic consensus on addressing our respective major concerns and made encouraging progress. This provided the necessary conditions for our meeting today. President Trump, I am ready to continue working with you to build a solid foundation for China-U.S. relations," the Chinese President said.
Trump echoed his Chinese counterpart's statement and said the two sides have already reached several agreements and are likely to finalise more soon. Expressing optimism ahead of talks, he added that the meeting would be “very successful.
"We are going to have a successful meeting. I have no doubt. He is a very tough negotiator, which is not good," Trump said.
The two world leaders commenced their pivotal meeting in the South Korean port town aimed at negotiating an end to the long-running trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.
This marked their first face-to-face since Trump began his second term and reignited the tariff battle that saw China hit with steep import duties.
A temporary truce reached in May paused the cycle of retaliatory tariffs that had exceeded 100% on both sides, but fresh strains have since then emerged over chip exports to China and US access to rare earth materials.
The future of Chinese-owned TikTok’s American operations was also up for discussion in an attempt to steady relations between the world’s two largest economies.
Source Name : Economic Times