A Chinese newspaper on display at a newsstand in Beijing on Dec. 3 features a front-page story about last week's meeting in Argentina during which Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S President Donald Trump agreed to a trade truce. China has signaled that it will try to meet some U.S. demands, but there are many reasons to doubt that the truce can be sustained.
What Happened The Dec. 5 arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Canada at the request of the United States added an unexpected twist to trade tensions between the United States and China less than a week after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to pause the escalating trade war between their countries to give negotiators three months to reach a deal. Even before Meng's arrest, there were ample reasons to be skeptical that the 90-day truce that Trump and Xi struck over dinner at last week's Group of 20 summit in Argentina could be sustained. For one, there were several discrepancies between the U.S. and Chinese announcements of the truce.
