U.S. President Donald Trump has delayed the raising of tariffs from 25% to 30% on USD250 billion worth of imports from China from October 1 to October 15, to avoid China’s 70th anniversary celebrations. Trump’s announcement followed Beijing’s unveiling of a list of 16 types of products that will be exempt from the first round of China’s additional tariffs on U.S. imports as the two sides prepare for another round of high-level trade negotiations in October. The exemption announced by China will go into force on September 17 and remain in place until September 16, 2020. A number of medicines and insecticides are included on the list of temporarily exempted U.S. products, while some others will be eligible for refunds on tariffs already paid. China also exempted U.S. agricultural products such as soybean and pork from additional tariffs. China welcomed Trump’s decision to postpone the planned tariff increase, calling it an act of “goodwill”.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s top advisers are trying to find an escape route for a series of tariff increases in the coming months, worried about the potential for further economic damage. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said the top items on the agenda for trade talks in Washington in October are the “U.S.-China trade balance, market entry and investor protection”. The comments suggest that China will steer talks clear of more challenging issues such as structural reform and security issues, focusing instead on less deep-rooted issues such as purchases of American agricultural goods. Liu made the comments in Beijing during a meeting with Evan Greenberg, President of the U.S.-China Business Council. “The whole world is expecting to see progress in China-U.S. negotiations,” Liu added.

“I’d rather get the whole deal done,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I see a lot of analysts are saying an interim deal, meaning we’ll do pieces of it, the easy ones first. But there’s no easy or hard. There’s a deal or there’s not a deal,” but Trump added that an interim deal is “something we would consider, I guess”. Bloomberg reported earlier that the Trump administration is considering offering a “limited” trade deal to China that involves delaying and even rolling back some U.S. tariffs in exchange for Chinese purchases of U.S. goods and a commitment on intellectual property rights.

Meanwhile, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios called on the government and private sector to collaborate to keep the U.S. on top in the competition for dominance in artificial intelligence (AI). He said that the U.S. remains in front in the worldwide AI competition, but China is narrowing the gap quickly. Kratsios’ call for greater collaboration between Washington and the private sector comes as annual federal spending on non-defense-related AI research is set to jump to nearly USD1 billion. China has made one of the biggest pushes towards AI dominance after announcing a plan two years ago to become the world leader in the emerging technology by 2030. In mid-August, a report published by the Center for Data Innovation showed the U.S. as the leading AI nation, with China rapidly catching up, and the European Union in third place. The U.S. led in four of the six categories the report examined: talent, research, development and hardware. China led in two categories: adoption and data. The European Union led in no category, although it ranked closely behind the U.S. in talent, the South China Morning Post reports.

The General Administration of Customs announced that the total value of Chinese imports and exports of goods rose 3.6% year-on-year to CNY20.13 trillion in the first eight months of the year. The country’s trade surplus stood at CNY239.6 billion last month, expanding 41.8% from a year earlier. China’s trade with the EU increased by 9.7% from a year earlier to CNY3.15 trillion, while trade with the United States was down 9% to CNY2.42 trillion. Imports and exports of private companies soared 11.2% year-on-year to CNY8.49 trillion between January and August, accounting for 42.2% of the total value of China’s foreign trade.