Three-month grace period to sort out China-US relations

Editor's note: President Xi Jinping met with US President Donald Trump in Argentina on Saturday. According to the news releases issued after their meeting, both sides have agreed to suspend any tariff escalations and to intensify their efforts at negotiations within the next 90 days to reach an agreement. Cri.cn comments:

The two heads of state have clearly put the brakes on escalating the trade frictions. A truce was reached, and room given for further consultations. These are positive outcomes to begin. Nevertheless, the trade teams from both sides will now engage in a new round of what are certain to be complicated and tough talks in the coming three months.

Why did China and the United States reach this cease-fire? The main reason is that both sides have paid a price for their eight-month trade frictions. When their trade conflict began escalating in March, the US administration believed that it would be easy to win the battle.