U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in April and extend the trade truce deal by up to one year, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 12th, citing multiple sources.
According to the report, President Trump plans to visit Beijing in early April, and the two sides appear likely to extend the "trade war truce" negotiated in Korea last year by up to one year.
Earlier, the two leaders held talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan, Korea, in Oct. last year and agreed to a one-year trade truce. At the time, China deferred its export controls on rare earths for one year, and the United States cut the "fentanyl tariff" from 20% to 10%, a 10 percentage point reduction. Immediately after the talks, China also resumed purchases of U.S. soybeans.
Sources said extending the "truce" measures that have been in place for months is a realistic and workable step, and the agenda for this meeting is likely to be set around short-term economic outcomes, including new Chinese purchase commitments.
With the Republican Party's majority status in Congress in jeopardy, President Trump needs visible results ahead of the midterm elections in Nov.
However, one source said the Trump administration is wary of appearing to encourage U.S. corporations' investment in China, so U.S. chief executive officers (CEOs) have not yet been invited as part of an economic delegation.
Another source said an auto and energy agreement could be announced at the April meeting, and the recently concluded transaction involving Chinese video platform TikTok is emerging as a potential model for agreements in other industries.
President Trump's visit to China was initially set for Mar. 31, but the schedule is being adjusted in consideration of China's Qingming Festival (Apr. 5). Citing several sources, SCMP reported that while the exact dates have not been set, early April is a strong candidate for the meeting.