The US-China summit: a 90-day grace period

THE agreement reached in Buenos Aires by United States President Donald Trump and President of China Xi Jinping bought China a 90-day grace period, after which the US would tighten the screws by sharply raising tariffs until Mr Trump gets what he wants - a structurally transformed Chinese economy.

As Mr Trump has made clear, the deal he seeks is one in which China would "open up their country to competition from the United States". He is calling for structural changes in the Chinese economy, which currently disadvantages American businesses.

Significantly, a White House statement on the US-China working dinner says: "President Trump and President Xi have agreed to immediately begin negotiations on structural changes with respect to forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft, services and agriculture. Both parties agree that they will endeavour to have this transaction completed within the next 90 days. If at the end of this period of time, the parties are unable to reach an agreement, the 10 per cent tariffs will be raised to 25 per cent."