The United States is delaying a planned increase of tariffs on more than $200 billion in Chinese exports after "substantial progress" made in trade talks, President Donald Trump said Sunday.
Trump also said he planned to hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago to ink a deal.
"I am pleased to report that the U.S. has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues," Trump wrote on Twitter.
"As a result of these very productive talks, I will be delaying the U.S. increase in tariffs now scheduled for March 1. Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement. A very good weekend for U.S. & China!"
The report from the official Xinhua news agency echoed the sentiments of US President Donald Trump, who decided to delay a March 1 increase in tariffs on Chinese exports following the latest round of talks.
The two sides "made substantial progress on specific issues" such as the transfer of technology, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, the services sector, agriculture and exchange rates, Xinhua said.
The delegations "came a step closer to realising the important consensus reached" by Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping when they agreed to a trade war truce in December, the report said.
Trump had already expressed optimism about the negotiations Friday after meeting with China's vice premier Liu He.
Xi also struck a positive tone in a letter Liu delivered to Trump, saying he hoped the negotiations would be held in a "win-win" spirit that would lead to a mutually beneficial agreement.
The Chinese president expressed hope that the talks maintain "a mutually respectful, cooperative and win-win attitude" and lead to a "mutually beneficial" agreement.
Trump said Friday that an agreement on currency manipulation will be included in the trade pact, but otherwise few details have been made public.
The seven-month-old trade war has rattled global markets and prompted stark warnings about the risks to the world economy.
Analysts say the two sides are likely to trumpet mutual agreements to resolve the easier parts of the trade dispute - increasing purchases of American goods, more open investment in China and tougher protections for intellectual property and proprietary technology.
The harder parts covering issues such as scaling back China's ambitious industrial strategy for global preeminence, meanwhile, are another question.
