Weekend meetings between representatives from the U.S. and China resulted in a change to the countries’ tariffs on imported goods from one another.
Beginning Wednesday, the 145% tariffs on imports from China to the U.S. and from the U.S. to China will be suspended for 90 days. Each country will maintain a 30% tariff on all goods for the 90-day period, the White House said.
“After taking the aforementioned actions,” the administration said, “the parties will establish a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was happy to report the talks, held in Geneva, Switzerland, established substantial progress. In late April, Bessent characterized the 145% tariffs each country had on the other as effectively a trade embargo.
U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer said the two-day meetings were very constructive.
“It is important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement,” Greer said, “which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought. That being said, there was a lot of groundwork that went into these two days.”
Greer said the U.S., working under orders from President Donald Trump, is working with China to reduce its $1.2 trillion deficit.
He said, “We are confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to work toward resolving that national emergency.”
The White House said further trade discussions may be conducted in the U.S., China, or a designated third country. The sides may conduct working-level consultations on relevant economic and trade issues outside of the formal meetings.
