SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- A pause in China-U.S. tariff disputes relieves anxiety about economic growth and market stability in both countries and the rest of the world, Chinese Consul General in San Francisco Wang Donghua said in a signed article published Tuesday.
"It is good news for the world economy and markets that the heads of state of China and the United States had a constructive meeting and dinner on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina," Wang said in the article titled "A welcome pause in U.S.-China trade dispute," which was carried by the San Francisco Chronicle, the largest-circulation newspaper on the U.S. West Coast.
During the dinner meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump agreed not to impose new additional tariffs.
The United States and China have been locked in trade frictions since earlier this year when the U.S. government slapped punitive tariffs on Chinese exports to America, which forced China to retaliate in kind.
"It is in the interests of both sides to settle their differences, as they are economically intertwined," Wang said, adding that many Americans he had talked to hope the trade conflict could come quickly to an end and avoid further harms to U.S. companies from tariffs.
Citing Apple as an example, Wang said more than 50 million iPhones were sold in the Chinese mainland in 2017, bringing the number of iPhone users there to more than 300 million, nearly the size of the U.S. population.
The Buenos Aires meeting made it possible for U.S. companies to continue reaping extensive economic benefits from the opportunities generated by the growth of China, whose population of nearly 1.4 billion makes it one of the largest markets in the world, said Wang.
It is predicted that in the coming 15 years, China will import over 30 trillion U.S. dollars in goods and over 10 trillion dollars in services, offering enormous opportunities for its trading partners, including the United States.
Wang noted that it is natural for trading partners to have differences and even frictions, but "as long as we work together, there is hope to find solutions to our differences."
"A pause in raising tariff barriers is a step in the right direction" for China and the United States to move forward to solve their trade disputes by peaceful means, said the Chinese consul general.
