Cross-party lawmakers ask China to lease giant pandas to Japan
The request was made during the group's meeting in Beijing with Yang Wanming, president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. The lawmakers are on a three-day visit to China through Tuesday.
The departure of the four pandas from the zoo in Wakayama Prefecture will leave just two giant pandas in Japan, at Tokyo's Ueno Zoological Gardens.
Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who heads the delegation, told Yang, "Personnel exchanges and mutual understanding are indispensable to put bilateral relations on a path for improvement" when public sentiments toward each other remain unfavorable.
He proposed that young Japanese parliamentarians who belong to the group visit China later this year.
A meeting between the delegation members and China's top legislator Zhao Leji, the No. 3 in the ruling Chinese Communist Party's leadership, is being arranged for Tuesday.
Kazuo Shii, chairman of the Japanese Communist Party Central Committee, is visiting China for the first time in 27 years as a member of the lawmakers' group.
In 2016, Shii criticized the Chinese ruling party's negative stance toward nuclear disarmament at an international conference, dampening relations between the Communist parties of the two Asian neighbors.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
27 minutes ago
- Japan Times
U.S. and China extend tariff truce by 90 days, staving off surge in duties
The United States and China on Monday extended a tariff truce for another 90 days, staving off triple-digit duties on each other's goods as U.S. retailers get ready to ramp up inventories ahead of the critical end-of-year holiday season. U.S. President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he had signed an executive order suspending the imposition of higher tariffs until 12:01 a.m. EST on Nov. 10, with all other elements of the truce to remain in place. China's Commerce Ministry issued a parallel pause on extra tariffs early on Tuesday, also postponing for 90 days the addition of U.S. firms it had targeted in April to trade and investment restriction lists. "The United States continues to have discussions with the PRC to address the lack of trade reciprocity in our economic relationship and our resulting national and economic security concerns," Trump's executive order stated, using the acronym for the People's Republic of China. "Through these discussions, the PRC continues to take significant steps toward remedying non-reciprocal trade arrangements and addressing the concerns of the United States relating to economic and national security matters." The tariff truce between Beijing and Washington had been due to expire Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. EDT. The extension until early November buys crucial time for the autumn surge of imports for the Christmas season, including electronics, apparel and toys, at lower tariff rates. A terrace of a shopping mall during sunset hour, in Beijing's central business district on Monday. Over five consecutive months of declines, the U.S. trade gap with China has narrowed by $22.2 billion — a 70% reduction from a year earlier. | REUTERS The new order prevents U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from shooting up to 145%, while Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods were set to hit 125% — rates that would have resulted in a virtual trade embargo between the two countries. It locks in place — at least for now — a 30% tariff on Chinese imports, with Chinese duties on U.S. imports at 10%. "We'll see what happens," Trump told a news conference earlier Monday, highlighting what he called his good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping. China said the extension was "a measure to further implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state during their June 5 call," and would provide stability to the global economy. Trump told CNBC last week that the U.S. and China were getting very close to a trade agreement and he would meet with Xi before the end of the year if a deal was struck. "It's positive news," said Wendy Cutler, a former senior U.S. trade official who is now a vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. "Combined with some of the de-escalatory steps both the United States and China have taken in recent weeks, it demonstrated that both sides are trying to see if they can reach some kind of a deal that would lay the groundwork for a Xi-Trump meeting this fall." The two sides in May announced a truce in their trade dispute after talks in Geneva, Switzerland, agreeing to a 90-day period to allow further talks. They met again in Stockholm, Sweden, in late July, and U.S. negotiators returned to Washington with a recommendation that Trump extend the deadline. The view from the terrace of a shopping mall overlooking the central business district, in Beijing on Monday. U.S. imports from China early this year had surged to beat tariffs set to be imposed by Washington, but dropped steeply in June, U.S. Commerce Department data showed last week. | REUTERS U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said repeatedly that the triple-digit import duties both sides slapped on each other's goods in the spring were untenable and had essentially imposed a trade embargo between the world's two largest economies. "It wouldn't be a Trump-style negotiation if it didn't go right down to the wire," said Kelly Ann Shaw, a senior White House trade official during Trump's first term now with law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. She said Trump had likely pressed China for further concessions before agreeing to the extension. Trump pushed for additional concessions on Sunday, urging China to quadruple its soybean purchases, although analysts questioned the feasibility of any such deal. Trump did not repeat the demand Monday. "The whole reason for the 90-day pause in the first place was to lay the groundwork for broader negotiations, and there's been a lot of noise about everything from soybeans to export controls to excess capacity over the weekend," Shaw said. Ryan Majerus, a former U.S. trade official now with the King & Spalding law firm, said the news would give both sides more time to work through long-standing trade concerns. "This will undoubtedly lower anxiety on both sides as talks continue, and as the U.S. and China work toward a framework deal in the fall," he said. Imports from China early this year had surged to beat Trump's tariffs, but dropped steeply in June, U.S. Commerce Department data showed last week. The U.S. trade deficit with China tumbled by roughly a third in June to $9.5 billion, its narrowest since February 2004. Over five consecutive months of declines, the U.S. trade gap with China has narrowed by $22.2 billion — a 70% reduction from a year earlier. Washington has also been pressing Beijing to stop buying Russian oil to pressure Moscow over its war in Ukraine, with Trump threatening to impose secondary tariffs on China.
Kyodo News
an hour ago
- Kyodo News
U.S., China extend 90-day tariff truce as Trump keeps up pressure
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order extending a tariff truce with China for 90 days until Nov. 10, the White House said, with the Chinese government also announcing the extension. Without Trump's move, an additional tariff rate of 24 percent on Chinese goods coming into the United States would have taken effect early Tuesday, raising trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. Coupled with a separate 20 percent tariff in place over the flow of fentanyl into the United States, the Trump administration has imposed 30 percent levies on imports from China since he became president for a second time. After high-level trade talks in Stockholm in late July, officials had said the United States and China planned to extend the pause. In the executive order, Trump said China "continues to take significant steps toward remedying non-reciprocal trade arrangements and addressing the concerns of the United States relating to economic and national security matters. "Based on this additional information and recommendations from various senior officials, among other things, I have determined that it is necessary and appropriate to continue the suspension," he said. On Tuesday in Beijing, the Chinese government issued a "joint statement" through state media in which it said both sides had agreed to refrain from applying a 24 percent tariff rate on imports from each other for an additional 90 days from Tuesday. Earlier Monday, when asked about extending the truce struck in May, Trump told reporters, "We'll see what happens," adding he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have a "very good" relationship. In mid-May, the United States and China backed away from their respective triple-digit tariff rates imposed during a trade war launched by Trump months after he took office for a nonconsecutive second term in January. Since then, the truce in tit-for-tat tariffs that both countries agreed to in Geneva during their first round of trade talks has been in place. Currently, the Trump administration is enforcing a 10 percent tariff as part of a planned 34 percent levy on all Chinese imports. The 10 percent rate was introduced in early April under the "reciprocal" U.S. tariff scheme, with the remainder to be negotiated during the pause. China has also retained a 10 percent tariff as part of a 34 percent retaliatory duty on all U.S. goods, with the remaining 24 percent likewise subject to negotiation. While signaling a conciliatory stance toward Xi, Trump suggested last week that the United States could impose a new tariff on China for continuing to purchase Russian oil, after ordering such a levy on India. In a social media post Sunday, the president also demanded that China increase soybean imports from the United States fourfold, continuing to put pressure on the Asian powerhouse.
Yomiuri Shimbun
an hour ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
US and China Extend Trade Truce Another 90 Days, Easing Tension between World's Largest Economies
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days Monday, at least delaying once again a dangerous showdown between the world's two biggest economies. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that 'all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same.' Beijing at the same time also announced the extension of the tariff pause via the official news agency Xinhua. The previous deadline was set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Had that happened the U.S. could have ratcheted up taxes on Chinese imports from an already high 30%, and Beijing could have responded by raising retaliatory levies on U.S. exports to China. The pause buys time for the two countries to work out some of their differences, perhaps clearing the way for a summit later this year between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and it has been welcomed by the U.S. companies doing business with China. Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said the extension is 'critical' to give the two governments time to negotiate a trade agreement that U.S. businesses hope would improve their market access in China and provide the certainty needed for companies to make medium- and long-term plans. 'Securing an agreement on fentanyl that leads to a reduction in U.S. tariffs and a rollback of China's retaliatory measures is acutely needed to restart U.S. agriculture and energy exports,' Stein said. Reaching a pact with China remains unfinished business for Trump, who has already upended the global trading system by slapping double-digit taxes – tariffs – on almost every country on earth. The European Union, Japan and other trading partners agreed to lopsided trade deals with Trump, accepting once unthinkably U.S. high tariffs (15% on Japanese and EU imports, for instance) to ward off something worse. Trump's trade policies have turned the United States from one of the most open economies in the world into a protectionist fortress. The average U.S. tariff has gone from around 2.5% at the start of the year to 18.6%, highest since 1933, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University. But China tested the limits of a U.S. trade policy built around using tariffs as a cudgel to beat concessions out of trading partners. Beijing had a cudgel of its own: cutting off or slowing access to its rare earths minerals and magnets – used in everything from electric vehicles to jet engines. In June, the two countries reached an agreement to ease tensions. The United States said it would pull back export restrictions on computer chip technology and ethane, a feedstock in petrochemical production. And China agreed to make it easier for U.S. firms to get access to rare earths. 'The U.S. has realized it does not have the upper hand,'' said Claire Reade, senior counsel at Arnold & Porter and former assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs. In May, the U.S. and China had averted an economic catastrophe by reducing massive tariffs they'd slapped on each other's products, which had reached as high as 145% against China and 125% against the U.S. Those triple-digit tariffs threatened to effectively end trade between the United States and China and caused a frightening sell-off in financial markets. In a May meeting in Geneva they agreed to back off and keep talking: America's tariffs went back down to a still-high 30% and China's to 10%. Having demonstrated their ability to hurt each other, they've been talking ever since. 'By overestimating the ability of steep tariffs to induce economic concessions from China, the Trump administration has not only underscored the limits of unilateral U.S. leverage, but also given Beijing grounds for believing that it can indefinitely enjoy the upper hand in subsequent talks with Washington by threatening to curtail rare earth exports,' said Ali Wyne, a specialist in U.S.-China relations at the International Crisis Group. 'The administration's desire for a trade détente stems from the self-inflicted consequences of its earlier hubris.' It's unclear whether Washington and Beijing can reach a grand bargain over America's biggest grievances. Among these are lax Chinese protection of intellectual property rights and Beijing's subsidies and other industrial policies that, the Americans say, give Chinese firms an unfair advantage in world markets and have contributed to a massive U.S. trade deficit with China of $262 billion last year. Reade doesn't expect much beyond limited agreements such as the Chinese saying they will buy more American soybeans and promising to do more to stop the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl and to allow the continued flow of rare-earth magnets. But the tougher issues will likely linger, and 'the trade war will continue grinding ahead for years into the future,'' said Jeff Moon, a former U.S. diplomat and trade official who now runs the China Moon Strategies consultancy.
