At the post G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, US President Donald Trump held what the White House called a "very successful meeting" with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and agreed that current US tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports of 10% will remain unchanged for 90 days. Tariffs were due to be raised to 25% on January 1.

According to the White House, there will be a substantial increase in American exports to China of agricultural, energy, industrial and other products which will reduce the trade deficit in favor of China. The White House statement declares both sides will begin negotiations to resolve differences on forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft.

Just because the US and China have agreed to call a truce in their trade war doesn't mean that it's over: This was a classic exercise in can-kicking. Nonetheless, most cans have quite a few kicks in them, and overall this is good news for the global economy. Instead of sweeping everything under the rug, as was the case before Donald Trump took office, America and China have found a new way of addressing conflict by talking openly.

Let's consider the announcement itself. The US has pledged to postpone raising tariffs to 25 per cent on $US200 billion ($271 billion) of Chinese goods.

China in turn has pledged to buy more US goods, and the two countries have 90 days to reach a broader trade agreement, which is supposed to cover forced technology transfer and cyberattacks in addition to typical trade issues. That's not enough time to allow the bureaucracies to work out the relevant details, but extensions can and probably will be granted.

The symbolic elements of the deal are at least as important.