SHORT-TERM TRUCE FOR US-CHINA….

SHORT-TERM TRUCE FOR US-CHINA TRADE WAR! BUT WILL IT LAST LONG?

US President Trump and China’s Ji Jinping consented on the G20 meeting in Argentina at the end of November. USA will postpone to raising the tariff rate from the current 10% to 25% in January 2019 for 90 days. Also, China decided to immediately resume imports of US agricultural products and oil, which had been discontinued since starting the trade war. During the 90 days of the ceasefire, the two countries agreed to pursue negotiations to resolve trade imbalances. The negotiating agenda that the United States is putting in place to end the trade war is to increase China’s imports of US products, open services and financial markets, and strengthen protection of US technol-ogy patents and other intellectual property rights. Regarding the outcome of the summit, the Financial Times re-ported that the deal was Trump’s unilateral victory. While the United States is only deferring the imposition of an additional tariffs for 90 days, China suggest it’s own alternative ideas for how to strengthen the intellectual property, how to change the structure of the service market to open, and how to protect the technology of US companies that have entered China. China have been refused to set there issues even on meeting agenda. The prospects for the conclusion of a trade dispute are stagger-ing. The Brookings Institution, a prominent research organization in the United States, looks at all possibilities and predicts that trade wars will not end easily, and sees the possibility of set-tling trade dispute somewhat lower during the armistice. On the other hand, President Trump of the United States expects trade dispute to be concluded soon. Trump seems to be optimistic that China will make a big concession.

In the South China Morning Post’s column on the conclusion of a trade war, the Chinese side said that if the trade dispute persists, both countries will be hit hard, especially in the US financial mar-ket. It has a mixed prospect that it will be concluded. Trade disputes between the United States and China can have a profound impact on the beauty industry, which requires close scrutiny.