The U.S. has reached a framework agreement with China to avoid imposing an additional 100 per cent tariff on Chinese imports, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday.
The development comes during the first leg of President Donald Trump’s diplomacy tour in Asia, easing tensions before this week’s highly anticipated meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Beyond trade talk, Trump is expected to urge Xi to join the US pressure campaign against Russia.
Trump spent the first day of his trip in Malaysia, where he oversaw the signing of a peace declaration and was greeted with fanfare and lavish praise by Southeast Asian leaders.
Meanwhile, in Washington, the federal government shutdown drags on, and some lawmakers are expressing alarm about Trump’s expanding military campaign against alleged drug trafficking operations in the Caribbean.
U.S. officials are weighing in on the upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said Trump’s meeting with Xi will be “crucial” in securing China’s cooperation on sanctions against Russia.
“The Chinese are buying way too much Russian oil and gas,” Whitaker said in an interview with Fox News.
“China needs to join the U.S. and our other allies in raising their voice and saying that this senseless war needs to end,” he said, referring to the war in Ukraine. Whitaker added that China joining the U.S. pressure campaign against Russia “would be a major step in finally ending the senseless killing.”
Potential for new sanctions: The ambassador declined to confirm a Reuters report stating that the U.S. is preparing new sanctions targeting key sectors of Russia’s economy if President Vladimir Putin does not return to negotiations.
But, he said, “there are many more things, many more steps and many more incremental turns of the screw that President Trump can do.”
Last week, the Trump administration unexpectedly announced “massive sanctions” on Russia’s two biggest oil producers.
Donald Trump has said he is adding 10 per cent to U.S. tariffs on goods imported from Canada, after the province of Ontario aired an anti-tariff advertisement featuring Ronald Reagan.
Calling the advert a “fraud”, the US president lashed out at Canadian officials for not removing it ahead of the World Series baseball championship.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said in response that Canada was ready “to continue to build on the progress we had been making” in trade talks, but added that it was developing trade relationships with other countries.
Canada is the only G7 country to not reach a deal with the US since Trump began seeking to levy steep tariffs on goods from major trading partners.
The U.S. has already imposed a 35 per cent levy on all Canadian goods – though most are exempt under an existing free trade agreement. It has also slapped sector-specific levies on Canadian goods, including a 50 per cent levy on metals and 25 per cent on automobiles.
Trump said while travelling to Asia on Saturday that he was “increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10 per cent over and above what they are paying now”. Tariffs are paid by the companies that import foreign products, not the exporters themselves.
Three-quarters of Canadian exports are sold to the U.S., and Ontario is home to the bulk of Canada’s automobile manufacturing.
