An American delegation is expected to travel to Beijing sometime between now and Mr. Xi’s trip to Mar-a-Lago to continue to work out the remaining differences. The fact that Mr. Xi has agreed to come to Mar-a-Lago is viewed by the Chinese as a concession, as they originally hoped that such a meeting would take place on China’s Hainan island. But the location also represents a gamble by Mr. Trump, who could be faced with an awkward situation if Mr. Xi refuses to make final concessions while he is a guest at his resort. Mr. Trump continued to tease the prospect of a potential deal with China on Sunday evening, saying “if all works well, we’re going to have some very big news over the next week or two.” The president said tariffs on Chinese goods had helped propel the United States beyond China, saying “as long as I’m president, they’re not going to catch us.” While some analysts said Mr. Trump’s advisers appeared likely to secure greater concessions than past administrations have achieved, others remain skeptical that United States can significantly transform the economic relationship with China. The president’s announcement followed days of negotiations in which American and Chinese officials met in board rooms near the White House to work line-by-line through a handful of documents covering intellectual property, services and subsidies. The Chinese were ready to commit to billions of dollars of purchases of American soybeans, beef, natural gas and other products, though they have resisted more structural changes to their economy. Mr. Trump has long criticized China for undercutting American workers, and his advisers have tried to pressure the country into making firm commitments to protect American intellectual property, give foreign companies equal access to Chinese markets and reduce subsidies to state-owned firms. But some of these goals run counter to China’s own ambitions of cementing the Communist Party’s control over the economy and the economic dominance of its state-owned firms. One component of this week’s agreement was a pledge by China not to artificially weaken the value of its heavily managed currency, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. A weaker currency would make Chinese products cheaper abroad and lessen the impact of American tariffs. Under the agreement reached this week, the Chinese must notify the United States when and why they are intervening in their currency. If they violate the agreement, the Trump administration would ratchet up tariffs on Chinese goods, according to one person with knowledge of the negotiations.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON—President Trump said Sunday he would delay an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods set to take effect at the end of this week, citing “substantial progress” on issues including intellectual property and technology transfer after a weekend of talks. In a tweet, Mr. Trump wrote that should progress continue, the U.S. would plan a summit with President Xi Jinping of China to “conclude an agreement” that would settle a yearlong trade fight between the two nations. Mr. Trump’s tweets didn’t specify how long the extension of a trade truce would last or any date for a potential summit. U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods had been scheduled to rise to 25% from 10% at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. In recent talks, Beijing offered to increase purchases of U.S. farm and energy products and services, ease restrictions on U.S. firms in financial services and auto manufacturing and improve protection of U.S. intellectual-property rights, according to people briefed on the discussions. But China’s leadership sees all those measures as aligned with the nation’s own interests. Beijing so far hasn’t given much ground on issues it sees as crucial to maintaining the Communist Party’s rule, including government subsidies and support to state-owned companies and other policies that underpin its state-led economic model. “We’re taking steps to reform state-owned enterprises to make them more competitive, just not in the way the U.S. wants us to,” a Chinese official said. The Chinese delegation is expected to leave Washington for Beijing on Monday afternoon. A statement by the official Xinhua News Agency echoed Mr. Trump’s tweets, saying negotiations were centered on putting together the text of an agreement and that “substantial progress” has been made. Mr. Trump tweeted the progress involved “intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues,” without offering details. Previously, U.S. officials had said China had agreed to a currency accord. Beijing has recently tried to keep its currency from depreciating because of fears of capital flight. The two sides are working on a text that could top 100 pages, a person tracking the talks said. “Trump has now substantially ratcheted up the pressure on his negotiators to strike a deal with China, even if it does little to assuage U.S. hard-liners’ concerns about China’s commitments on core structural issues,” said Cornell University China expert Eswar Prasad. “There is still a yawning gap between the two sides on major issues due to U.S. lack of trust in China’s commitments on structural issues and China’s unwillingness to make any fundamental changes to its industrial and economic strategies.” Divisions also remain on how to address U.S. complaints that Chinese authorities and companies pressure U.S. companies to share technology. Chinese officials deny that Beijing applies such pressure and argue that foreign firms voluntarily share technology in exchange for access to China’s markets. U.S. semiconductor, chemical and auto firms, in particular, complain that Beijing has a variety of ways to obtain U.S. technology, including by joint-venture requirements and by regulatory panels that pass along U.S. technology secrets to Chinese firms. During the latest round of trade talks, said the people briefed on the matter, Chinese negotiators said Beijing was willing to better police practices on the local level and encourage U.S. businesses operating in China to report coercion to regulators. U.S. negotiators are pushing for much broader changes. Slower growth in China is affecting everything from smartphone sales to oil exports, and companies and countries in its orbit are beginning to feel the crunch. Photo Composite: Crystal Tai “If extending the deadline leads the two governments to secure a sustaining bilateral deal that addresses American concerns about market access and structural reforms, then it will be worth it,” said Myron Brilliant, executive vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Business wants a comprehensive deal that will reduce tensions and eliminate existing punitive tariffs.” The two sides also haven’t agreed how to enforce any deal. U.S. officials, who have for years complained about China’s poor follow-up record, are pushing for provisions that would either permit Washington to reimpose tariffs on Chinese goods should Beijing fail to meet certain milestones—called “snapback” in trade lingo—or leave the levies in place and gradually remove them if Beijing meets agreed-upon yardsticks. Chinese officials have criticized that approach as unfair, and they said the two sides should jointly evaluate complaints. Another issue: what standards should be used to judge compliance with an accord. If one or two U.S. firms continue to have intellectual-property problems in China, for instance, should that be sufficient to reimpose tariffs? If that isn’t sufficient, what is? Hudson Institute China scholar Michael Pillsbury, who advises the Trump trade team, said the president hoped to get a negotiating edge by having a summit meeting in the U.S., rather than China. In past negotiations with the U.S., he said, China has reserved its most significant concessions for a final meeting with a U.S. president. But some in the White House worry that Mr. Trump will be so committed to getting a deal that he will settle for a weak agreement. Some Chinese officials said the U.S. underestimates the domestic political problems facing Beijing given the growing nationalist feeling at home. The two sides are working off a lengthy list of U.S. demands on trade, delivered to Beijing last May, that includes cutting the bilateral trade imbalance by $200 billion in two years and halting subsides for advanced technologies. Many Chinese have compared those demands to the infamous “21 Demands” made by Japan in 1915 that would have greatly extended Japan’s control of the Chinese economy during World War I. Mr. Trump has made cutting a trade deal with China a priority. His top trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, has long taken a hard line on Chinese trade practices—and in recent weeks has been cautioning about the big hurdles that remain before the two sides can strike a deal. Mr. Lighthizer has focused on so-called structural issues, including subsidies and technology transfer. Major stock indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen each jumped more than 2% in early trading on Monday.<doc-sep>The United States is planning to delay a menu of additional Chinese tariffs that were scheduled to begin on March 1, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday, as the world's two largest economies hash out a definitive end to a wide ranging trade dispute. In a series of posts on Twitter, Trump cited "substantial progress" in bilateral talks between the U.S. and China. As a result, the president said he would suspend the new levies that would have taken place as early as Friday, but did not articulate a new deadline. Trump tweet Last week, sources familiar with the situation told CNBC that the United States and China are discussing a late March meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida, news that Trump confirmed on Sunday. The summit is scheduled to take place at Trump's Mar-a-Lago golf club in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump tweet Ahead of that confab, China has committed to buying up to $1.2 trillion in U.S. goods, though as late as last week, the two sides were said to be far apart on issues concerning the forced transfer of intellectual property. Speaking at the White House hours after his tweets, Trump said there could be "very big news over the next week or two" if trade talks go well. "China has been terrific. We want to make a deal that's great for both countries and that's really what we're going to be doing," the president told U.S. governors at the event. Asia market sentiment was broadly higher on Monday. The U.S.-China trade war has upended markets, and cast a shadow over prospects for global growth. In recent trading sessions, investors have been slowly pricing in the prospect that the fight would be resolved. On Sunday, Dow futures indicated a modestly higher opening on Wall Street Monday. --CNBC's Thomas Franck and Kayla Tausche contributed to this article.<doc-sep>Dow Set to Gain After Donald Trump Delays Tariffs. China’s Doing Even Better. Illustration by Michael Haddad Text size 7:12 a.m. The Dow Jones Industrial Average looked set for a higher open Monday morning after President Donald Trump said he wouldn’t raise tariffs on Chinese goods at the end of the month. Dow futures have gained 146 points, or 0.6%, while S&P 500 futures have advanced 0.4%, and Nasdaq Composite futures have risen 0.6%.<doc-sep>
President Donald Trump announced that he is holding off on increasing tariffs on approximately $200 billion in Chinese goods, crediting “substantial progress” in trade talks with Beijing. The postponement came just days before the March 1 deadline, after which Trump had said he would increase tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion in Chinese products. His decision to pull back on those additional tariffs pauses what would have been a dramatic escalation in a trade spat between the US and China. And it comes after about a week of intense negotiations in Washington between American officials and their Chinese counterparts. But it’s still a bit unclear how much real progress has been made in those negotiations, and what, if anything, has been agreed to so far. Trump touted the progress on “important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues,” he tweeted on Sunday evening. He added that he anticipated a future summit at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, with Chinese President Xi Jinping to finalize a deal at the end of the month. “A very good weekend for U.S. & China!” he tweeted. I am pleased to report that the U.S. has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues. As a result of these very...... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019 ....productive talks, I will be delaying the U.S. increase in tariffs now scheduled for March 1. 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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019 Trump did not specify a new deadline for potential tariff increases if talks fall apart — which the stock markets, at least, took as a sign of a potential breakthrough. The US and China have been in talks since Trump first placed tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports last year; the two sides reached a temporary 90-day truce in December, which has now been extended, per Trump’s tweets. But skepticism about the contents of a deal remains, as American and Chinese officials have offered few specifics on the terms of what might be in a final agreement. There does seem to be some consensus on agriculture; Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said last week that China had committed to buying an additional 10 million metric tons of US soybeans. Trump administration and Chinese officials also said Friday that they had reached some sort of deal on China’s currency manipulation — though here, too, the details are scarce on what that deal entails or how it would be enforced. While these indicate potential wins for the Trump administration, the precise mechanics really are going to matter. Some experts have questioned whether the Trump administration may be willing to settle for easier wins, such as getting China to buy more US products, at the expense of addressing the knottier problems in the US-China trade relationship, like technology transfer — complaints from companies that say China requires them to share tech to do business — or intellectual property theft. American officials are expected to travel to China sometime before this tentative summit between Trump and Xi at Mar-a-Lago, according to the New York Times. But “ultimately, I think the biggest decisions and some even smaller decisions will be made by President Xi and myself,” Trump told reporters on Friday in the Oval Office.