US President Trump said in the evening on Sunday (February 24) local time, "The United States has important structural issues such as intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, and exchange rates in its trade negotiations with China. And many other issues have made great progress. Since the negotiations are very productive, I will now postpone the deadline for the US to increase tariffs on China on March 1."
Subsequently, Xinhua News Agency and other authoritative media officially released the news of the "seventh round of China-US high-level economic and trade consultations ended." The Chinese side stated that the two sides have made substantial progress on specific issues concerning technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, services, agriculture, and exchange rates. On this basis, the two sides will follow the instructions of the two heads of state to do the next step.
Before the March tariff plus the "big limit", the positive attitude of both sides was like a warm wind. It seems that the final agreement reached between the Sino-US economic and trade consultations is getting closer and closer, and the market optimism continues to spread.
Since the Sino-US negotiations, the trend of warming trade relations between the two sides has become obvious. Analysts pointed out that in the Chinese formulation, it is worth noting that both parties will "negotiate around the text of the agreement." This shows that the negotiations have entered the final stage and the preparation of the agreement text has begun, which is not in the previous consultations.
The “big limit” was postponed and the semiconductor industry was relieved.
The US White House previously announced that March 1 is a hard deadline for China and the United States to reach a trade agreement. Once the two sides are unable to reach a trade agreement, the United States will increase tariffs on China's $200 million in exports to the US (from 10% to 25%). In the 25% taxation list, there are semiconductors and electronic products.
An industry insider told the international electronics business that the recovery of Sino-US trade relations is the general trend, which is the common aspiration of China and the United States and even the global semiconductor industry. Although the US has been working hard to suppress the Chinese electronics industry in 2018, the rise of China's semiconductor industry has never slowed down. For example, in passive components, many types have been replaced by localization; among the active components, the most critical chip field is also accelerated by the support of the national government... I believe the US industry does not want to lose China’s largest market in the world. The Chinese players are also deeply versed in the difficulties of fighting alone and eagerly hope that the two sides can achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
At the same time, the industry also reminded that in the face of the world's unprecedented changes in the past century, we must treat it with normality. In the next period of further negotiations between the two sides, we will not rule out new twists and turns. Chinese companies must not take lightly on US export enterprises and products originating in the United States, and must make long-term plans. For semiconductor companies, they should also pay close attention to changes in the situation, enhance their ability to prevent risks, and continuously enhance their own strength, thereby winning the initiative and voice of the international market.
