US-China trade war 'on hold'

China’s agreement to “substantially” increase U.S. imports is enough to head off a trade war for now, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says. After two days of talks in the Washington, China’s trade delegation refused to commit to import an additional $200 billion — or any dollar amount — as requested by Washington in a bid to narrow the $375 billion-trade deficit between the world’s two biggest economies, The Wall Street Journal says. Beijing also said the increase would be dictated by domestic demand. In recent weeks, the U.S. has threatened to levy tariffs on as much as $150 billion in Chinese goods unless the gap was pared and unless pressure on U.S. companies to transfer technology to Chinese partners stopped, per the Journal.