China’s commitment to buy $200bn of US goods over two years could come at the expense of Australian farmers and energy providers, but the “truce” in the countries’ trade war will be a confidence boost for global markets, trade minister Simon Birmingham has said.
“This is welcome news. Australia has long called for a reduction, a cessation of the trade war between the United States and China – it was hurting global economic growth, and so we welcome the fact that this agreement has been signed,” he told radio station 2GB.
But he warned that the inking of the “phase one” agreement would not eliminate trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.