If a handshake agreement holds, it would merely undo some of the damage from the trade war that President Trump started.
After two days of tense negotiations, the United States and China appear to have walked back from the brink of a devastating economic conflict — maybe.
Officials from the two countries reached a handshake agreement in the early hours of Wednesday in London to remove some of the harmful measures they had used to target each others’ economies as part of a clash that rapidly intensified in recent months.
It remains unclear whether the truce will hold — or crumble like one struck in May did. Even if the agreement does prove durable, its big accomplishment appears to be merely returning the countries to a status quo from several months ago, before Mr. Trump provoked tensions with China in early April by ramping up tariffs on goods it produces.
“It seems like we’re negotiating in circles,” said Myron Brilliant, a senior counselor at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group and former executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“You escalate, you de-escalate,” he added. “At the end of the day we’re not really further along.”
As a result of this week’s negotiations, tariffs will stay where they are. Further details are scant, other than the likely rollback of aggressive policies the two countries adopted since May.
China is expected to loosen restrictions on exports of minerals that had threatened to cripple an array of American manufacturers. The United States will in return relax new limits that it placed on its own exports of technology and products, as well as walk back threats to cancel visas for Chinese students in the United States.