New Delhi, Oct 30: US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his intent at stopping wars across the world.
And, during his Asia tour, he appeared intent at calling a truce to the tariff war that he is held responsible for initiating.
As in the case of ending armed conflicts, where he has succeeded in most, if not all, President Trump may have opened a space for truce, if not eliminating all uncertainties over trade relations in the current world order.
Trump, who was seen as softening his stand on India of late, after imposing a 25 per cent “reciprocal tariff” and another 25 per cent as penalty for buying Russian oil, remarked on Wednesday that he was going to do a “trade deal with India”.
This is the first time that the US President has openly laid bare his thoughts on the resumption of negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement with New Delhi.
“I’m doing a trade deal with India and I have great respect and love… as you know… for Prime Minister Modi… we have a great relationship,” said Trump in South Korea’s Gyeongju, where he landed from Japan as part of a three-nation tour that included Malaysia.
He paid eulogies to Prime Minister Modi, calling him “the nicest looking guy… He looks like you’d like to have your father like…”
Hours later, he was engaged in a discussion with China’s Premier Xi Jinping on Thursday, to find ways and means to do away with tensions arising between the world’s two largest economies over tit-for-tat policies in trade.
China’s Ministry of Commerce unveiled the outcomes reached in the negotiation, even as Trump shared snippets from the meeting with accompanying journalists on way home aboard Air Force One.
State-controlled China Daily highlighted the bonhomie between the two leaders in their first in-person meeting since Trump assumed office in his second term.
“President Xi Jinping has underlined the need to ensure the steady movement forward of China-US relations during his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday,” the report said.
It mentioned that Xi noted “Under our joint guidance, China-US relations have remained stable on the whole”, adding, “Trump called Xi ‘very, very distinguished and respected’ and said it is his honour ‘to be with a friend of mine really for a long time’.”
According to BBC, “It was the first face-to-face interaction the two men have had since 2019, when they last met during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan,” and added, “The two world leaders exchanged handshakes and praise in front of cameras before leaving to talk in private for two hours. Trump hailed the meeting with Xi as ‘a great success’.”
CNN reports said the US President indicated that the two sides have come to an agreement on “almost everything”, where overall tariffs on Chinese goods would drop from 57 per cent to 47 per cent, due to progress on soybean imports, rare earths and fentanyl issues during the talks.
He also said he plans to visit Beijing in April, it added.
–IANS