On Monday, President Donald Trump announced that China would “open itself up to American business” following a breakthrough in trade negotiations, in which both nations agreed to temporarily reduce tariffs on a wide range of goods.
While details remained sparse, Trump described this development as “maybe the most important thing” to emerge from high-level discussions in Geneva, Switzerland, over the weekend.
His comments came shortly after U.S. and Chinese officials confirmed that they had reached an agreement to pause most tariffs and trade barriers for a duration of 90 days.
The U.S. will lower its tariffs on Chinese imports to 30%, a significant drop from the previous rate of 145%. Concurrently, China has committed to reducing its tariffs on American products from 125% to 10%.
This arrangement will also adjust Trump’s previously imposed “reciprocal” tariffs against China, decreasing them to 10%. However, the U.S. will keep a 20% tariff in place due to concerns related to China’s involvement in the fentanyl crisis affecting America.
Additional tariffs on specific Chinese products, including steel and aluminum, which were established prior to early April, will also remain intact.
Moreover, the White House indicated that China plans to “suspend or remove the non-tariff countermeasures” it had imposed on U.S. goods since April 2.
The tariffs initially implemented by Trump in April effectively created a trade embargo with one of America’s largest suppliers.
The suspension of these tariffs is set to commence on Wednesday.
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