The Chinese government on Wednesday sought to draw a line on trade tensions with the United States, saying that both sides had agreed not to raise tariffs further while signaling that it could retaliate if Washington did so again.
China also confirmed for the first time that it would buy American beef and Boeing airplanes, two deals that President Trump touted after his summit with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, last week.
In a statement on Wednesday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said that Beijing had agreed to buy 200 Boeing planes, a transaction that would mark the largest single Chinese purchase of the American manufacturer’s aircraft in nearly a decade. The ministry also confirmed that Beijing had approved American slaughterhouses to resume exporting beef to China, giving a green light to more than 600 U.S. companies after an initially muddled notice last week.
The announcements came in a online posting by the Ministry of Commerce five days after the two leaders’ meeting in Beijing. Mr. Trump and other American officials have since hailed the summit’s success and the commercial commitments secured from Beijing.
But critical points of friction remained unresolved, particularly over tariffs. Mr. Trump, for his part, told reporters afterward: “We didn’t discuss tariffs.”
On Wednesday, China’s commerce ministry pushed back on that account, saying the U.S. and China had “engaged in in-depth discussions on tariffs” during the latest negotiations. The ministry added that it hoped Washington would “honor its commitments” and ensure that U.S. tariff levels on Chinese goods would “not exceed the level stipulated” during talks last fall in South Korea, when the two sides had agreed to a tariff truce.
