US Treasury Secretary Bessent Says US and China Agree to Extend Trade Truce by Two Months

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the U.S. and China have agreed to extend their bilateral "trade truce," which was set to expire in November, by two months.

In an interview with Fox News, Secretary Bessent spoke about the outcome of his talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, stating, "Today we agreed to extend what is known as the 'Busan Agreement.'"

He continued, "Instead of taking a series of small steps today, we met to discuss whether we could reach a larger-scale agreement," adding that the Busan Agreement will be extended until January 10 of next year.

The U.S.-China trade truce was originally scheduled to expire on November 10.

Previously, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a summit on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Busan in October of last year, where they agreed to refrain from escalating the trade war and to suspend additional tariffs and some trade retaliation measures for one year.

Ahead of the summit between Presidents Trump and Xi, Secretary Bessent and Vice Premier He met at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C., to coordinate final agenda items.

Immediately following the talks, Secretary Bessent posted on X (formerly Twitter), saying, "Ahead of the meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, I had substantive discussions with Vice Premier He Lifeng today in Washington, D.C., regarding U.S.-China economic relations."

He explained, "These discussions remained focused on securing meaningful commitments that promote U.S. economic and national security interests while protecting American workers, farmers, and businesses."

President Xi arrived in the U.S. this afternoon and began his state visit schedule.

The two leaders are scheduled to hold a summit at the White House on the 24th.
 

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.