Although the summit between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump seems to have relaxed tensions between world powers with trade agreements, the recent order by the President of the United States for the Pentagon to “begin testing” its nuclear weapons raised uncertainty about the direction that race could take.
Mexico City, October 30 (However).– The danger of a global trade war has been deactivated after the meeting of the leaders of China y United States (EU)but another risk has risen on the horizon: that of a new nuclear arms race.
The main text of The New York Times today says that before this Thursday’s crucial meeting between the President Donald Trump and that of China, Xi Jinpingworld leaders were hoping for an economic truce to stabilize the global economy. And they got it.
“Following a 90-minute face-to-face meeting in South Korea, Trump announced that the two leaders had dramatically reduced tension in their trade dispute, agreeing, in essence, to a year-long ceasefire that would reverse retaliatory measures, including high tariffs and closing access to rare earth metals. The meeting was the most anticipated and consequential event of Trump’s nearly weeklong tour of Asia, where he signed a series of trade and security agreements with other countries in the region, many of them aimed at containing Beijing,” the newspaper added. “They also got something else: greater concern about whether the world is entering a new era of nuclear weapons proliferation among world powers.”
Trump and the Chinese leader agreed to a one-year truce that reverses many of the controversial tariffs and retaliatory measures that aggravated the dispute between the world’s two largest economies. Additionally, Trump said China had agreed to suspend for one year a series of new measures that threatened to further restrict the supply of rare earth metals, which are crucial to a wide range of advanced manufacturing industries. He stated that his summit with the Chinese leader was a “great meeting” and that “many details” had been worked out. He added that he expected a trade deal with China “very soon.”
Yesterday, Trump said he has ordered the Pentagon to “begin testing our nuclear weapons on equal terms” with Russia and China. But it remained unclear whether Trump was referring to testing nuclear warheads or the missiles and other delivery systems that carry them.
“Due to other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the War Department to begin testing our nuclear weapons on equal terms,” Trump wrote on social media. “That process will begin immediately.”
Trump’s post came shortly before a meeting in South Korea with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Later, speaking to reporters during his flight back to the United States, Trump said the government plans to issue a statement with more details about the testing. He refused to explain the reason for his decision, but said it had no relationship with China. “It has to do with others,” he mentioned. “It seems like everyone is conducting nuclear tests.”
Asked if he believed the world was entering a riskier nuclear environment, he responded: “I don’t think so.” Trump added that he would like to see denuclearization. The United States conducted its last nuclear weapons test in 1992, and has joined Russia and China in respecting a decades-long moratorium on underground nuclear explosions.
The Wall Street Journal said today that it was not immediately clear what prompted its publication, although Russian President Vladimir Putin announced this week that Russia has tested a new type of nuclear-powered cruise missile and a nuclear-powered underwater drone. “In his social media message, Trump claimed that the United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country and took credit for modernizing the US nuclear arsenal during his first term. ‘Because of their tremendous destructive power, I HATED doing it, but I had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but they will be even in five years,’ he wrote, explaining his call for nuclear testing.”
The agreement
According to the Chinese agency XinhuaPresident Xi Jinping said that “in the face of winds, waves and challenges, we must stay on the right course, navigate through the complex landscape and ensure the steady advancement of the giant ship of China-US relations. China and the United States can jointly shoulder their responsibility as major countries and work together to achieve greater and more concrete things for the good of our two countries and the entire world.”
Given different national conditions, the two sides do not always see eye to eye, and it is normal for the world’s two major economies to have friction from time to time, Xi added. “You and I are at the helm of China-U.S. relations.”
Xi affirmed that China’s economic development has good momentum, adding that in the first three quarters of this year, the Chinese economy grew by 5.2 percent, and the import and export trade of goods with the rest of the world expanded by four percent, he said. Xinhua today Thursday. This is not an easy achievement given internal and external difficulties, Xi noted, adding that the Chinese economy is like a vast ocean, large, resilient and promising.
“We have the confidence and ability to face all kinds of risks and challenges,” Xi said.
“The two leaders met at the airport in Busan, on the southeast coast of South Korea, for their first in-person meeting of Trump’s second term, with the stakes high: An economic dispute that had been brewing for several months threatened to erupt. Earlier this month, Trump threatened to impose an additional 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods after China imposed its toughest-ever restrictions on important rare earth metals. But sanity prevailed. The two leaders, after meeting for about 90 minutes, reached a series of agreements that, although they did not represent great news, resolved thorny issues that had been hindering the negotiations for a lasting trade agreement,” details the Times.
Trump and Xi agreed to a one-year truce, extending the pause they had established following escalating retaliation that raised tariffs on each other’s imports to more than 100 percent. Initially, in May, they decided to limit additional tariffs, a measure that was extended by three months in August. The current agreement expired on November 10.
The US President told reporters aboard Air Force One, returning to Washington shortly after meeting Xi, that he had agreed to halve the punitive 20 percent tariff he had imposed on Chinese imports this year. It had imposed these tariffs after accusing China of failing to prevent the entry into the United States of fentanyl and chemicals used in the manufacture of this powerful synthetic opioid.
On Thursday he declared that he agreed to reduce import tariffs because he believed China was determined to take the necessary steps to stop the flow of so-called precursor chemicals. The tariff reduction would take effect immediately and would lower the overall tariff on many Chinese products from about 55 percent to about 45 percent.
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