MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/. US and China have agreed on a truce in their trade war rather than reached a strategic breakthrough during a summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, experts told TASS.
"The negotiations between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping were expected to be a strategic breakthrough in relations between the United States and China, but their results are more like a temporary ceasefire in the trade war," said Mirzet Ramich, PhD in political science, an expert at the RUDN University Center for Applied Analysis of International Transformations.
He noted that the most fundamental issues for the United States and China, such as frictions in the field of semiconductors and artificial intelligence, as well as the problem of Taiwan and territorial disputes in the South China Sea, were not discussed at the meeting. "The deal between the United States and China is a classic example of Donald Trump's ‘tariff diplomacy’ - the United States has reduced a significant part of its duties, including on fentanyl. China postponed restrictions on rare earth metals for a year and agreed to resume purchases of American soybeans," the expert said.
According to him, Trump regularly threatens to raise tariffs to secure a favorable starting negotiating position, sets a deadline, and waits for concessions. China understands the US strategy perfectly well and sees temporary concessions as a tactical step that will allow it to gain time to adapt the economy to a possible escalation in the future, Ramich explained.
The US Vision
Sergey Zaversky, head of the research department at the Institute for Integrated Strategic Studies said that although Trump described the meeting as positive and amazing, the results are not outstanding. It did not last long enough for many issues to be discussed in detail, said.
The positive outcomes of the talks include a reduction of duties on Chinese fentanyl, the signing of agreements on the export of rare earth metals and the purchase of soybeans. However, Zaversky said, we know about the deal from one side only - from Trump.
"There have been no joint statements yet, and some of the most important issues of bilateral relations, such as Nvidia chips and advanced products, have remained unresolved," Zaversky said.
According to him, the markets’ reaction is also telling - so far they have not seen any significant improvements from the meeting. "The symbolic detail is added by Trump's background statement about the start of nuclear weapons tests, which could hardly add warmth to the negotiations," he noted.
Partnership between Russia and China
Trump has achieved no breakthrough, but the meeting became a stabilizing factor for geopolitical tensions, Marina Lapenko, associate professor of the Department of Comparative Political Science at the RUDN University, told TASS.
In her opinion, China is successfully coping with tariff increases, its economy is stable, self-sufficient and diversified. "China has established strategic partnership relations with Russia and is actively participating in the creation of an anti-Western coalition of the BRICS+ countries, while Trump's anti-China policy threatens serious consequences for the American economy," she believes.
Trump is trying to take on the role of a mediator, but this meeting is unlikely to have a serious impact on the partnership between Beijing and Moscow that has been building for years, or on the geopolitical rivalry between the two world leaders and the largest economies, the United States and China, the expert noted.
"The real significance of the meeting can only be confirmed by official documents that will (or will not - this is also an important marker) be prepared after this meeting," Lapenko concluded.