AFTER months of tariff duels, China and the United States have seen positive changes in their economic relationship following a meeting between the presidents of the two countries.

As the world economy is facing downward pressure and becoming more uneven, analysts said that the consensus was conducive to easing market fears over the escalation of new trade restrictive measures between the world’s two biggest economies.

In his speech at the G20 summit, President Xi Jinping said that the number of new trade restrictive measures applied on a monthly basis among G20 members had doubled compared with six months ago. In 2018, the growth of trade in goods may decline by 0.3 percent globally.

China is taking solid steps to advance opening up in the service sector, expand financial opening up and accelerate the opening-up process of sectors including telecommunications, education, medical treatment and culture.

Last month, the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) was successfully held, and was warmly received by the international community. The CIIE will be held annually as a way to further open China’s market. China’s imported goods and services are estimated to exceed US$30 trillion and US$10 trillion, respectively, in the next 15 years.

China has also made efforts to foster a world-class business environment, and promote international cooperation at multilateral and bilateral levels. In the latest World Bank Doing Business report, China moved up 32 places in the ease of doing business ranking from last year.

Liang Ming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said Saturday was “an important day” for China and the United States, as the two countries made “the first step” in the past few months towards a healthy relationship.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Saturday said there was “an urgent need” to de-escalate trade tensions, reverse recent tariff increases and modernize the rules-based multilateral trade system.

The IMF estimated that, if recently raised and threatened tariffs were to remain in place and announced tariffs were implemented, about 0.75 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) could be lost by 2020. If, instead, trade restrictions in services were reduced by 15 percent, global GDP could be 0.5 percent higher.

“We are all living at an important historical moment; an historical moment in which decisions by leaders of the world’s two largest economies will determine the trajectory of the 21st century,” said AmCham China chairman William Zarit, hoping for a healthier and more sustainable U.S.-China trade relationship.  (Xinhua)