China says US trade truce extension creates space to advance talks

BEIJING: China announced on Monday that a two-month extension of the trade truce with the United States would provide an opportunity for both nations to review the implementation of their agreement aimed at resolving economic and trade issues, while simultaneously evaluating ways to advance cooperation in specific sectors. The Commerce Ministry confirmed the extension, which is set to continue until January 10, stating that it would establish a stable and predictable policy environment for companies to engage in mutual cooperation and maintain active discussions.

The extension was one of the key outcomes from the second summit this year between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, held in Washington last week. Under the trade council that both sides agreed to establish, one of the initial steps is to negotiate a reciprocal tariff reduction on $30 billion worth of products, with the goal of maintaining stable bilateral economic and trade relations.

This move would also create better conditions for exporting related Chinese products to the United States, according to the ministry's statement.

The economic and trade teams from both countries will engage in regular dialogues to focus on potential investment opportunities and barriers, enhance policy transparency and predictability, and address reasonable concerns raised by enterprises, according to the statement. In addition to the trade-focused initiatives, both countries will set up an agriculture working group under the trade council, which will convene its first meeting before the end of the year to discuss market access and regulation for agricultural products.

Furthermore, the summit resulted in a coal trade agreement, allowing China to import coal from the United States in 2027 and 2028. China's ministry emphasized that importing US coal would not only supplement China's domestic coal market but also provide stable economic income and employment to the US coal industry. In the realm of artificial intelligence, both sides agreed on a communication channel for addressing incidents and have scheduled a follow-up dialogue by the end of November.

Lastly, both nations will continue discussions on increasing flights between China and the United States.