GENEVA: The United States and China announced Monday an agreement to drastically reduce tit-for-tat tariffs for 90 days, de-escalating a trade war that has roiled financial markets and raised fears of a global economic downturn.
\nAfter their first talks since US President Donald Trump launched his trade war, the world\u2019s two biggest economies agreed in a joint statement to bring their triple-digit tariffs down to two figures and continue negotiations.
\nUS Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the weekend talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and international trade representative Li Chenggang as \u201cproductive\u201d and \u201crobust.\u201d
\n\u201cBoth sides showed a great respect,\u201d Bessent told reporters.
\nUS President Donald Trump had imposed duties of 145 percent on imports for China last month \u2014 compared to 10 percent for other countries in the global tariff blitz he launched last month.
\nBeijing hit back with duties of 125 percent on US goods.
\nBessent said the two sides agreed to reduce those tariffs by 115 percentage points, taking US tariffs to 30 percent and those by China to 10 percent.
\nIn their statement, the two sides agreed to \u201cestablish a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations.\u201d
\nChina hailed the \u201csubstantial progress\u201d made at the talks.
\n\u201cThis move… is in the interest of the two countries and the common interest of the world,\u201d the Chinese commerce ministry said, adding that it hoped Washington would keep working with China \u201cto correct the wrong practice of unilateral tariff rises.\u201d
\nThe dollar, which tumbled after Trump launched his tariff blitz in April, rallied on the news while US stock futures soared. European and Asian markets also rallied.
\nThe trade dispute between Washington and Beijing has rocked financial markets, raising fears the tariffs would rekindle inflation and cause a global economic downturn.
\nThe head of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, praised the talks on Sunday as a \u201csignificant step forward\u201d that \u201cbode well for the future.\u201d
\n\u201cAmid current global tensions, this progress is important not only for the US and China but also for the rest of the world, including the most vulnerable economies,\u201d she added.
\nAhead of the meeting at the discreet villa residence of Switzerland\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Trump had signalled he might lower the tariffs, suggesting on social media that an \u201c80 percent Tariff on China seems right!\u201c
\nHowever, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified that the United States would not lower tariffs unilaterally, saying China would also need to make concessions.
\nThe Geneva meeting came days after Trump unveiled a trade agreement with Britain, the first with any country since he unleashed his blitz of global tariffs.
\nThe five-page, nonbinding deal confirmed to nervous investors that Washington was willing to negotiate sector-specific relief from recent duties.
\nBut Trump maintained a 10 percent levy on most British goods, and threatened to keep it in place as a baseline rate for most other countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GENEVA: The United States and China announced Monday an agreement to drastically reduce tit-for-tat tariffs for 90 days, de-escalating a trade war that has roiled financial markets and raised fears of a global economic downturn. After their first talks since US President Donald Trump launched his trade war, the world\u2019s two biggest economies agreed in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-477827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n