Just this passed week, China declared that there has been a lot of progress made in the trade talks with the U.S. The trade war started on July 6th, 2018, when China’s Commerce Ministry accused the United States of starting a trade war after tariffs were imposed on Chinese imports. China then decided that in retaliation, they would apply similar tariffs on U.S. imports. This has developed over the year, with the countries placing more and more tariffs on imported goods. However, a week ago, president Trump met with Vice-Premier Liu He of China to discuss the trade issues over the past months. They didn’t come to any deals; however, China agreed to buy more soybeans from the U.S.. Trump says that this is proof of the progress made within their two day long discussion. China also reportedly agreed to increase imports of US agricultural products, energy products, and industrial manufactured goods.
According to the article, “The two sides are racing to come up with a trade deal by 1 March, or the US has said it will increase tariff rates on $200bn (£152bn) worth of Chinese goods from 10% to 25%.” This is a major time constraint and I am not sure if I really believe that this will be accomplished by March 1st. However, I do believe that trade relations are definitely improving, and that a deal may be made within the year. Part of this belief stems from the fact that china will begin buying more soybeans. In fact, “Shortly after the truce took effect, China – by far the world’s biggest importer of soybeans – bought 1.13 million tonnes of the crop from the US.” This is a major blessing for soybean farmers, who previously were on a downward spiral when the largest purchaser of soybeans wasn’t buying any soybeans. Also, the fact that the trade war is almost equally hurting both countries, slowing down two of the most powerful countries. This gives other countries such as India better opportunity to catch up to the U.S. and Chinese global level. This will also act as encouragement for the U.S. and China to establish a deal.