'They want it': Trump approves US-China trade deal to halt Dec 15 tariffs

Election News
President Donald Trump signed off on a phase-one trade deal with China, averting the Dec. 15 introduction of a new wave of U.S. tariffs on about $160 billion of consumer goods from the Asian nation, according to people familiar with the matter.
The deal presented to Trump by trade advisers Thursday included a promise by the Chinese to buy more U.S. agricultural goods, according to the people. Officials also discussed possible reductions of existing duties on Chinese products, they said. The terms have been agreed but the legal text has not yet been finalized, the people said. A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
The administration has reached out to allies on Capitol Hill and in the business community to issue statements of support once the announcement is made, they said. Before meeting his trade advisers, Trump engaged with members of the Business Roundtable, which represents some of the largest U.S. companies, people said.
Global stocks hit a record high and bond yields climbed on optimism over trade. On Thursday, Trump tweeted that the U.S. and China are “VERY close” to signing a “BIG” trade deal, also sending equities higher. The yuan surged the most in a year.
“They want it, and so do we!” he tweeted five minutes after equity markets opened in New York, sending stocks to new records.

Trump changed his mind on deals with China before. Negotiators have been working on the terms of the phase-one deal for months after the president announced in October that the two nations had reached an agreement that could be put on paper within weeks.The U.S. has added a 25% duty on about $250 billion of Chinese products and a 15% levy on another $110 billion of its imports over the course of a roughly 20-month trade war...Read More

China preparing blacklist of US companies, signaling threat to trade talks

International News
Chinese state media said the government will soon publish a list of “unreliable entities” that could lead to sanctions against US companies, signaling that trade talks between the two nations are increasingly under threat from disputes over human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
The Communist Party-backed Global Times said in a tweet early Tuesday that the list was being sped up in response to a bill sponsored by Republican Senator Marco Rubio requiring measures against Chinese officials involved in alleged abuses of Uighur Muslims in the far west region of Xinjiang.
Beijing has threatened to publish such a list of companies since May, after the US placed restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co.
A response from China on the Xinjiang issue that hits US companies would add another obstacle as the two countries struggle to finalise a phase-one deal to de-escalate the trade war. On Monday, US President Donald Trump said that legislation signed last week censuring China over the protests in Hong Kong had already complicated the talks.
Global Times Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin went further on Twitter, saying that US officials may face visa restrictions and US passport holders could be banned from entering the province. China stands accused of incarcerating as many as a million Uighurs as part of an anti-terrorism campaign, actions it describes as voluntary re-education.

China hasn’t specified which companies would be affected by the blacklist, though courier firm FedEx Corp. has been under particular scrutiny this year. A re-escalation of trade tensions also places more focus on a Dec. 15 deadline for Trump to add yet more tariffs on Chinese imports....Read More

Won't play 'Game of Thrones', undettered by US trade threats, says China

International News

China's top diplomat hit back at US criticism on Tuesday, saying Beijing had no intention to "play the Game of Thrones on the world stage" and would respect US interests, but it would not be threatened on trade or allow interference in its affairs, including Hong Kong.
In an address on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York, Wang Yi, China's foreign minister and state councilor, urged a move away from confrontation between the two biggest global economies, saying they should cooperate for mutual benefit and for that of rest of the world.
Earlier on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump had a stern message for China and its president, Xi Jinping, in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly.Trump, who launched a trade war with China that's damaging both countries, delivered a stinging rebuke to Beijing's trade practices and said he would not accept a "bad deal" in US-China trade negotiations.
He also warned that the world was watching how Beijing handles mass demonstrations in Hong Kong that have heightened fears of a potential Chinese crackdown.Trump has sought to pressure China to agree to reduce trade barriers through a policy of increasing tariffs on Chinese products. He accused China of the theft of trade secrets "on a grand scale" and said it was taking advantage of World Trade Organization rules that give Beijing beneficial treatment as a "developing economy".

 Wang Yi told an event organized by the US-China Business Council that China hoped for a positive outcome from the next round of trade talks with the United States due to take place in October.But he said negotiations must be based on mutual respect and could not take place under threats...READ MORE