Have the United States and China averted a trade war? Washington and Beijing have agreed to scrap or suspend most of the new trade duties imposed on each other since early April, pending further talks, according to a joint statement released on Monday.
The two nations agreed to put the tariffs aside after two days’ worth of talks, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland. The U.S. has agreed to halt the initial 34% new duties introduced by Trump on April 2nd for 90 days, while China will do the same with its own 34% tariffs rolled out in response to that measure. The U.S. and China will also roll back all tariff hikes imposed since April 8th, but will keep in place the baseline 10% tariff on mutual imports.
This means the U.S. overall tariffs on Chinese goods will stand at 30%, due to the 20% duty introduced back in March, and Chinese tariffs will stand at 10%, according to a report by RT. Beijing has said that it will also ease non-tariff measures such as export controls on U.S. goods.
These new policies will be effective starting on May 14th, and the two countries will create a consultation mechanism to work out any further trade policy steps.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier told reporters that the talks in Geneva were “productive.” Trade representative Jamieson Greer said the sides were able to come to agreement “quickly,” which “reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought.” China’s chief negotiator, Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang, said that discussions were “honest, in-depth, and constructive” and based on “mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit.” -RT
The stock market took notice of the new policy changes. The U.S. markets quickly responded to Sunday’s announcement, with Dow futures rising 1.1%, S&P 500 futures up 1.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite gaining 2.1%. Chinese stocks also rallied, with the CSI 300 up 0.6% at midday, the Shanghai Composite climbing 0.4%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.9%.
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