The United States and China agreed Monday to a 90-day truce in their raging trade war — with each agreeing for now to slash reciprocal tariffs by over 100 percentage points, bringing China’s rate down to just 10%.
Under the agreement, the US will drop its 145% tariff rate on Chinese goods to 30%, while China will lower its rate from 125% down to just 10%, officials said.
Stock markets rose sharply following the news as the world’s two largest economies stepped back from a clash that had upended the global economy.
“The consensus from both delegations this weekend is neither side wants a decoupling,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after the high-stake talks with Chinese officials in Switzerland.
“And what had occurred with these very high tariff … was an embargo, the equivalent of an embargo. And neither side wants that. We do want trade.”
“We want more balanced trade. And I think that both sides are committed to achieving that,” he added.
China’s Commerce Ministry said the two sides had agreed to cancel 91% in tariffs on each other’s goods and suspend another 24% in tariffs for 90 days — bringing the total reduction to 115 percentage points.
“This initiative aligns with the expectations of producers and consumers in both countries and serves the interests of both nations as well as the common interests of the world,” a Chinese ministry statement said.
The Geneva meetings were the first face-to-face interactions between senior US and Chinese economic officials since President Trump returned to power and launched his global tariff blitz by slapping hefty duties on China last month.
In response to the 145% tariffs, China quickly retaliated by hitting American imports with a 125% levy.
The full impact on the tariffs and other trade penalties enacted by Washington and Beijing remains unclear.
Bessent said the deal didn’t include sector-specific tariffs and that the US would push forward with strategic rebalancing in areas including medicines, semiconductors and steel where it had identified supply chain vulnerabilities.
“Both countries represented their national interest very well,” he said. “We both have an interest in balanced trade, the US will continue moving towards that.”
With Post wires
