And on the sidelines of the G20,President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping reached a deal to keep their countries' trade tensions from escalating... at least for a while.<br />Our Ko Roon-hee reports. <br /> Is the trade war between the world's two largest economies finally coming to an end?<br />The U.S. and China on Saturday put a temporary halt on new tariffs... after their leaders met in Argentina. <br /><br /> The White House released a statement saying that on January 1st President Trump will leave tariffs on 200-billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese goods at 10 percent.<br />This means he's holding off on his previous vow to raise the tariffs to 25 percent. <br /> The statement added that Beijing agreed to buy an unspecified, but very substantial amount of agricultural, energy, industrial and other products from the U.S... to reduce the trade imbalance. <br /><br /> Trade negotiations are expected to continue on tough issues, including top U.S. concerns related to forced technology transfers and intellectual property.<br />The White House statement says that if the two countries cannot come up with an agreement in the next 90 days, the 10% tariffs will be raised to 25%. <br /><br /> Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi also confirmed Saturday that the two leaders agreed to stop imposing additional tariffs on each other.<br />Wang said the discussions were very positive and constructive.<br /><br />Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg Economics, the Trump administration's tariffs at 25% would have meant a drag on China's GDP growth of 0-point-9 percentage points a year.<br />The 10% tariff will mean it takes a hit of just half a percentage point.<br /> Either way, the trade war affects South Korea as well because many local companies rely greatly on exports to these economies.<br />There are still risks, though, since the tariffs can go up after 90 days.<br />Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News. <br />
