Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 12th that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to extend the trade truce by up to one year at their summit in April.

According to the SCMP, President Trump and President Xi are expected to formally announce and expand at the April U.S.-China summit the agreement they informally pledged at the Busan summit last October. Sources said the U.S. side will focus on short-term economic outcomes, including a new Chinese commitment to purchase agricultural products.

Since the U.S.-China summit in Busan last October, China has resumed imports of U.S. products that were halted under Trump's second administration and has continued them to the present. After a leader-level call with President Xi on the 4th, President Trump said, “We discussed important topics such as China's purchases of U.S. oil and gas, China's consideration of additional agricultural purchases, the supply of aircraft engines, and many other subjects.”

The visit is expected to take place in early April. Sources said an initial plan considered President Trump entering on March 31 for a three-day stay, and that dates are being discussed to avoid the Qingming Festival holiday in China, which begins on April 5.

One source told the SCMP, “Because the Trump administration, which champions America First, is reluctant to appear to encourage U.S. companies to invest in China, it has not yet invited U.S. corporate chief executive officers (CEOs) to the economic delegation.”

However, there was also speculation that, as President Trump presents himself as a ‘master of the deal’, an economic cooperation plan modeled on the ‘TikTok deal’ in high-tech sectors such as electric vehicles or energy could be announced. Under the TikTok deal, the underlying algorithmic technology would be held by a Chinese company while a U.S. company would operate the business.

The SCMP reported that, during preparations for the talks, the Chinese side has conveyed to the United States that the ‘Taiwan issue’ is the biggest pitfall in bilateral relations, and that U.S. arms exports to Taiwan could jeopardize progress in the meeting.

U.S.-China officials have repeatedly sent the message that the bilateral relationship is stable. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said on the 9th that senior Treasury officials visited China the previous week for working-level discussions, adding, “Our goal is fair competition and risk mitigation (de-risking), not separation (decoupling).”

At an event with senior local diplomats on the 10th, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, said that U.S.-China relations had achieved “overall dynamic stability.”