FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Both Sides Say Trump-Xi Meeting Was Highly Successful
Dec. 2, 2018 (EIRNS)—The official and semi-official statements coming out of both the White House and China characterize the dinner meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping as very successful.
According to the official White House statement, President Trump declared:
“This was an amazing and productive meeting with unlimited possibilities for both the United States and China. It is my great honor to be working with President Xi.”
Xinhua reported that “Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump held a ‘highly successful meeting’ here Saturday, reaching important consensus and agreeing not to impose new additional tariffs.”
According to the official White House statement,
“President Trump has agreed that on January 1, 2019, he will leave the tariffs on $200 billion worth of products at the 10% rate, and not raise it to 25% at this time. 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 our two countries. China has agreed to start purchasing agricultural products from our farmers immediately. President Trump and President Xi 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 endeavor 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%.”
On his way back to the U.S. Trump said, “It’s an incredible deal. It goes down, certainly, if it happens, it goes down as one of the largest deals ever made,” according to CNBC.
In an earlier statement from the White House, President Trump said China would now buy “a tremendous amount of agricultural and other products” from the U.S. “It’ll have an incredibly positive impact on farming, meaning agriculture, industrial products, computers, every type of product,” Trump told reporters.
Trump also said,
“What I’d be doing is holding back on tariffs. China will be opening up. China will be getting rid of tariffs. You know, China right now has major trade barriers they’re major tariffs—and also major non-tariff barriers, which are brutal.”
Xinhua reported,
“On economic and trade issues, Xi said that it is very normal that the two countries have some disagreements in the fields of economy and trade, adding that the key is to manage their differences properly and work out a solution acceptable to both sides in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.
“They agreed not to impose new additional tariffs, and instructed the economic teams of both sides to step up negotiations toward the removal of all additional tariffs and reach a concrete deal that is mutually beneficial and win-win.”
The two sides also agreed to take measures to deal with the crisis around the deadly opioid fentanyl which has caused a major health crisis in the U.S. The White House statement reads,
“Very importantly, President Xi, in a wonderful humanitarian gesture, has agreed to designate Fentanyl as a Controlled Substance, meaning that people selling Fentanyl to the United States will be subject to China’s maximum penalty under the law.”
Xinhua also stated that President Xi raised the issue of Taiwan and President Trump reiterated the U.S. commitment to the One-China policy.
