In December, China and the United States have agreed to a 90-day trade truce in order to sit down back to the negotiations table to end the trade war. This decision was favorably received by the Asian stock market as it posted positive gains the most recent of which was on Friday.
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is considering to lift some or all tariffs slapped on various Chinese imports. He also suggests a possible tariff rollback on Jan. 30 when trade discussions between the two countries will resume.
Following Mr. Mnuchin's comment, stocks in the United States rallied with some gains. For a full day following his comments, all three major indexes in the country are up with the industrial stocks gaining the biggest surge.
Shares in the Asia-Pacific outside of Japan went up by 0.25 percent. The entire index has gained close to 1 percent just this week alone. As for other Asian indexes, Japan's Nikkei gained 0.7 percent. Australian and South Korean stocks also went up by 0.6 percent.
Daiwa SB Investments senior economist Soichiro Monji said in a statement, "As with 2018, the U.S.-China trade row remains a key market theme in 2019. A slight difference is that there are some signs that the two sides are seeking some sort of resolution."
Mr. Monji added that both China and the United States are running low on possible options once the trade war reaches a point in which it is out of control. As such, the two parties have agreed to sit down and discuss possible solutions to solve the trade war that has since affected not only their economies but that of other countries as well that rely on them for trade.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is expected to visit Washington on Jan. 30 to 31. He will represent China in the upcoming rounds of trade talks which is aimed to resolve various economic issues that have affected the world's top two economies. Recent market data have shown that China is slowly feeling the effect of the trade war hence the decision to negotiate a deal.
China is set to release its fourth-quarter economic growth report on Monday. Many economists and trade experts are anticipating this report as this will help explain China's future decisions with regards to the trade war.
