Chinese President Xi Jinping stated during his visit to Washington that Beijing and Washington must find a proper way to coexist peacefully and act as partners rather than rivals, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
Xinhua news agency reported that Trump and Xi confirmed that they would support each other in hosting the APEC Economic Leaders meeting and the G20 Summit in 2026.
Key quotes
China and the United States . . . stand to gain from co-operation and will both lose in confrontation.
Our competition should be a healthy one, and should be kept within bounds. It should be a race of catching up with one another, not a wrestle in which one either wins or loses.
Seek new method for major powers to coexist peacefully.
Major powers should demonstrate responsibility.
US-China ties reach new historical milestone.
Reached broad agreement on numerous issues.
Had a candid and thorough exchange with Trump.
New arrangement after China-US trade talks is good news.
Had a candid and thorough exchange with Trump.
Market reaction
At the time of writing, the AUD/USD pair is down 0.05% on the day at 0.7000.
US-China Trade War FAQs
Generally speaking, a trade war is an economic conflict between two or more countries due to extreme protectionism on one end. It implies the creation of trade barriers, such as tariffs, which result in counter-barriers, escalating import costs, and hence the cost of living.
An economic conflict between the United States (US) and China began early in 2018, when President Donald Trump set trade barriers on China, claiming unfair commercial practices and intellectual property theft from the Asian giant. China took retaliatory action, imposing tariffs on multiple US goods, such as automobiles and soybeans. Tensions escalated until the two countries signed the US-China Phase One trade deal in January 2020. The agreement required structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime and pretended to restore stability and trust between the two nations. However, the Coronavirus pandemic took the focus out of the conflict. Yet, it is worth mentioning that President Joe Biden, who took office after Trump, kept tariffs in place and even added some additional levies.
The return of Donald Trump to the White House as the 47th US President has sparked a fresh wave of tensions between the two countries. During the 2024 election campaign, Trump pledged to impose 60% tariffs on China once he returned to office, which he did on January 20, 2025. With Trump back, the US-China trade war is meant to resume where it was left, with tit-for-tat policies affecting the global economic landscape amid disruptions in global supply chains, resulting in a reduction in spending, particularly investment, and directly feeding into the Consumer Price Index inflation.
