The ties

that bind

Chinese President Xi Jinping is wrapping up his first visit to the U.S. in six years in what has been described as a productive week for U.S.-Chinese relations. President Xi and President Biden met in San Francisco, both privately and publicly, while attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) annual summit.

The meeting results are open to interpretation, but both the U.S. and China came away with a message of wanting friendship, not war between the two nations. Tensions have been high between the two due to increasingly isolating policies that only got worse during COVID. There has been plenty of the blame game played already as to who’s at fault for the current relations, but this week’s meeting offered a calming message of moving forward.

There are still clear differences. The U.S. has made it clear they will defend Taiwan in a hostile takeover scenario, and China will not be satisfied until Taiwan is a part of China. The U.S. has also taken no steps towards lifting tariff hikes or export controls that were established under the Trump administration. As the two super economic powers of the world, it would be nearly impossible to untangle the economic ties that bind them together, but abuse of the relationship will not be tolerated either and acknowledging differences while trying to establish a clearer set of ground rules for behavior going forward is progress.

Inflation rates slow as equities lift

The consumer price index was flat in October from the previous month but still up 3.2% from a year ago. The flat month-on-month movement was below expectations and markets were giddy with excitement after the report. Both the Dow and the S&P saw prices rally 1.4% or more in total price on the day of the news while the U.S. dollar index decreased by 1.5% on the same day.