Trump extends China tariff truce for 90 days

Xi-Trump summit hinges on trade deal

- ALAN RAPPEPORT

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday extending a trade truce between the United States and China for another three months, providing a reprieve from the threat of escalating tariffs and export controls that have rocked the global economy.

The extension, until Nov 10, provides the two countries more time to work out their differences and sets the stage for a potential summit between Trump and President Xi Jinping, China's leader, later this year. Trump suggested Monday that negotiations were making progress.

“They've been dealing quite nicely — the relationship is very good with President Xi and myself,” Trump said at the White House.

Top economic officials had been working to finalise a provisional agreement to extend the truce that was reached during meetings in Sweden last month. The deadline for the truce to expire was yesterday.

After the Sweden talks, US officials were optimistic that the president would sign off on the arrangement, though in dramatic fashion, Trump waited until the final hours before the deadline to extend the pause. Had the tariffs snapped back into place, they risked escalating a trade war between the world’s two largest economies that rattled global markets this year.

With the clock ticking, Trump on Sunday night called on China to quadruple its purchases of American soybeans and noted that doing so would help reduce America’s trade deficit with China.