China says it hopes to agree with U.S. on tariff reductions ‘at an early date’ — SkimNews
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- China's Commerce Ministry spokesperson Huang Ling said Thursday that negotiators are striving to implement reciprocal tariff reductions on $30 billion of goods "at an early date"
- Trump and Xi are expected to meet in Washington on September 24 for their third face-to-face talks in the past year, with both governments framing the meetings as stabilizing relations
- At their previous May meeting in Beijing, Trump and Xi agreed to launch a U.S.-China Board of Trade and parallel Board of Investment, with the tariff-reduction talks central to that framework
- The tariff truce between the two countries expires November 10, setting a hard deadline for any deal
- Barclays Bank cautioned in a research note that "the scope for a broad trade deal is limited" and that targeted tariff reductions are the more likely outcome
- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said "leaders' diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China-U.S. relations"
Why it matters: The $30 billion figure is a sliver of bilateral trade, and Barclays itself doubts a broader deal is feasible — meaning the September 24 summit is more likely to deliver a tactical truce extension than structural rebalancing. The November 10 expiration gives negotiators roughly seven weeks after the leaders meet to convert summit optics into binding cuts before tariffs snap back.
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