China-US tariff truce should be extended, Global Times says

Beijing — The 90-day tariff truce agreed by the US and China during trade talks in Switzerland last weekend is too short, China’s state-backed Global Times said on Friday, as envoys from the world’s two biggest economies regrouped in Korea.

During the Geneva summit, the US agreed to cut the extra tariffs it imposed on Chinese imports last month to 30% from 145% for the next three months, while China committed to cutting duties on US imports to 10% from 125%.

“The window for mutually beneficial co-operation should extend far beyond a mere 90-day period,” said the Global Times, which is owned by the newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, People’s Daily. It has often been first to report China’s next steps in trade disagreements.

“Hopefully, the US side will build on the outcomes of the recent talks and continue to meet China halfway.”

Beijing also agreed to pause or remove the non-tariff countermeasures it has imposed against the US since April 2, although China so far has only paused its decision to add about 50 US firms to various lists restricting their ability to trade and invest.

In addition to easing the curbs, China agreed to lift export countermeasures issued after April 2, raising prospects for the lifting of restrictions on rare earth minerals, on which Beijing has not yet clarified its position.

Analysts say Beijing is unlikely to rush to announce how exactly it will meet all of its pledges.

“There is no point in China clarifying the non-tariff barriers it plans to lift to give itself the flexibility it wants,” said Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia Group.

“The tariffs will likely go back up 90 days and China may sign some purchase agreements, but the non-tariff barriers will be important in future talks,” she said.

China’s commerce ministry did not respond specifically to questions on what non-tariff barriers it would lift — rather than pause — during a regular Thursday news conference.

US trade representative Jamieson Greer met Chinese trade envoy Li Chenggang on Thursday on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation meeting on South Korea’s Jeju Island.

Neither side has provided details on the substance of that meeting.

During a separate APEC trade ministers’ meeting, Li urged his counterparts to take action against economies that disrupt global trade flows through the use of tariffs, without singling out the US or any other country, a Chinese commerce ministry statement said. 

Reuters