On Sunday, President Donald Trump delayed the March 1 deadline to increase tariffs on Chinese goods, citing “substantial progress” during a week of trade talks in Washington, D.C. between U.S. and Chinese officials.
Trump wrote in a tweet Sunday night, “As a result of these very productive talks, I will be delaying the U.S. increase in tariffs now scheduled for March 1,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement. A very good weekend for U.S. & China!”
Trump noted that progress had been made on “structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues” in the talks in Washington.
He said he plans to hold a summit meeting with the Chinese president Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to conclude an agreement, assuming both sides made additional progress.
Trump’s remarks sent shares in Asia to their highest point for five months on Monday as optimism mounted about an agreement.
The Trump administration had planned to raise tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports into the U.S. if an agreement between the world’s two largest economies were not reached by Friday.
The $200 billion in goods included certain sports products, such as backpacks, sports bags, leather ski gloves, camp stoves, camp chairs, bikes and bicycle parts. Another round of $267 billion in tariffs that would likely include apparel and footwear was also put on hold to support further negotiations.
