US Treasury chief says to extend China trade truce until January

The announcement came just as Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in the United States for a high-stakes summit with President Donald Trump on Sept 24.

WASHINGTON – US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sept 23 that Washington and Beijing have agreed to a two-month extension of their trade truce, which was due to expire on Nov 10.

The deal came after marathon talks between Bessent and his Chinese counterpart Vice-Premier He Lifeng in New York on Sept 20 and in Washington on Sept 23.

The announcement came just as Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in the United States for a high-stakes summit with President Donald Trump on Sept 24.

“We have agreed today that we will extend what we call the Busan Agreement, the economic detente between the two countries that was scheduled to end on Nov 10,” Bessent told Fox News in an interview.

“That is going to be extended until Jan 10 to give us more time to see what we can do on the economic front.”

The truce, which took effect in 2025, came after Trump struck a deal with Xi.

The agreement saw both sides agree to reduce tit-for-tat tariffs and for the United States to extend certain tariff exclusions.

Washington had also agreed at the time to suspend responsive actions after an investigation into China’s shipbuilding sector.

Bessent on Sept 23 also flagged the possibility that both sides could reduce tariffs on US$30 billion (S$38.4 billion) of non-sensitive goods.

Following hours of talks involving Bessent, US trade envoy Jamieson Greer and their Chinese counterparts on Sept 20, Greer told reporters that both teams were still working through this.

Besides trade, Washington and Beijing also discussed creating a notification mechanism to flag AI-related incidents or threats. AFP