Trump: China to reduce and remove tariffs

President Trump has agreed that on January 1, 2019, he will leave the tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of product at the 10% rate, and not raise it to 25% at this time, a a press release from the White House reads. In response to this, China will agree to purchase a not yet agreed upon, but very substantial, amount of agricultural, energy, industrial, and other products from the United States to reduce the trade imbalance between the two countries. Also, the two Presidents have agreed to immediately begin negotiations on structural changes with respect to forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft, services and agriculture. Both parties agree that they will work to have this transaction completed within the next 90 days. If at the end of this period of time, the parties are unable to reach an agreement, the 10% tariffs will be raised to 25%, the press release continues. President Xi also stated that he is open to approving the previously unapproved Qualcomm – NXP deal should it again be presented to him. However, Qualcomm has responded to this in an emailed statement to Reuters; saying that it “considers the matter closed.”