Short trade truce can’t paper over realities of US-China relationship

AI Summary

The United States and China extended their trade truce by two months, postponing the immediate threat of further tariff escalation until January 10. The temporary reprieve highlights continuing disagreements over tariffs and trade restrictions despite high-level diplomacy.

The recent US-China summit yielded a narrow, caution-filled outcome for bilateral trade: a two-month extension of the Kuala Lumpur trade truce, which now expires on January 10 next year. This reprieve eases fears of immediate tariff escalation and shows that head-of-state diplomacy can still curb spiralling confrontation. Yet the short timeline exposes the wide gulf separating the two sides’ priorities. China’s position has been unambiguous: removal of all punitive tariffs and restrictive...