BEIJING: For Xiong Xujia, the wait started alongside the China-US trade talks in Geneva, which later shifted to London, Stockholm and Madrid, resulting in a monthslong spiral of uncertainty.
For Xiong, a foreign trade manager at Ningbo Tianxiang Electrical Appliances Co Ltd, a cookware manufacturer based in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, as well as her bosses and the company’s clients in the United States, the May-September period turned into a season of uneasy waiting.
Each development in the economic and trade consultations hinted at possible shifts in prices, orders and an already-delicate business outlook.
With each round of talks, they were glued to the television screens, refreshing news alerts on their mobile phones, searching for even the faintest sign that tensions might ease.
That moment finally arrived when China released the outcomes of the Kuala Lumpur talks in late October, where both sides reached a consensus on tariff adjustments and export controls — a breakthrough that temporarily defused the risk of renewed escalation and offered Chinese manufacturers, US retailers and consumers a badly needed reprieve.
According to information from China’s Ministry of Commerce, the US will cancel the 10 percent so-called “fentanyl tariffs”, while also extending the suspension of the 24 percent reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods for an additional year.
China will make corresponding adjustments to its countermeasures against the aforementioned US tariffs, and both sides agreed to extend certain tariff exclusion measures.
“With the latest round of China-US economic and trade talks producing a series of substantive outcomes and areas of consensus, we are more convinced that openness and cooperation are the path to shared success,” said Xiong.
She said the company will continue to meet clients’ expectations with high-standard products and reliable services, broaden its engagement with the US market, and pursue higher-quality growth through deeper, mutually beneficial cooperation.
Ningbo Tianxiang exported 172 million yuan ($24.17 million) worth of products, including toasters, sandwich makers and waffle makers, to the US in the first 10 months of this year, up 14.8 percent year-on-year, according to Ningbo Customs.
Despite a decline in bilateral trade, economic ties between the two countries remain substantial. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
