US, China agree to 90-day pause on high tariffs

The U.S. and China released a joint statement on 12 May indicating the two countries would suspend most tariffs for 90 days and agree to continue discussions about their economic and trade relations.

In a joint statement, the U.S. agreed to modify its duties on China, effectively reducing tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 percent by 14 May. In return, China will also suspend its tariffs, reducing the tariff rate to 10 percent as of 14 May.

The U.S. had imposed tariffs as high as 145 percent on goods from China, comprising a 10 percent tariff announced in February, a second 10 percent tariff announced just a month later, a 34 percent tariff announced on 2 April, a 50 percent additional tariff U.S. President Donald Trump announced in response to China hitting U.S. goods with a 34 percent tariff, and then another increase on 9 April to push the total to 145 percent.

China had responded to Trump’s tariffs in kind, raising what it called equivalent levies against U.S. goods that reached as high as 125 percent by 11 April.

According to the joint statement, over the next 90 days, the two countries will negotiate on trade during the pause.

“I’m happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.

The agreement came as the two countries met in Geneva, Switzerland, recently for two days to discuss the ongoing trade war in person.

“This was, as [Bessent] pointed out, a very constructive two days. It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought,” U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer said. “Just remember why we’re here in the first place; the United States has a massive USD 1.2 trillion [EUR 1.08 trillion] trade deficit, so the president declared a national emergency and imposed tariffs; we’re confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to work toward resolving that national emergency.”