U.S. and
China Agree to Temporarily Slash Tariffs in Bid to Defuse Trade War
The 145
percent U.S. tariff on Chinese goods will come down to 30 percent under the
deal. The U.S. Treasury secretary said “neither side wanted a decoupling.”
Daisuke
Wakabayashi Alan Rappeport Ana Swanson
By Daisuke
Wakabayashi Alan Rappeport
and Ana Swanson
Daisuke
Wakabayashi reported from Seoul and Alan Rappeport and Ana Swanson from
Washington.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/business/china-us-tariffs.html
May 12, 2025
Updated 4:34
a.m. ET
The United
States and China said Monday they reached an agreement to temporarily reduce
the punishing tariffs they have imposed on each other in an attempt to defuse
the trade war threatening the world’s two largest economies.
In a joint
statement, the countries said they would suspend their respective tariffs for
90 days while they negotiate. Under the agreement, the United States would
reduce the tariff on Chinese imports to 30 percent from its current 145
percent, while China would lower its import duty on American goods to 10
percent from 125 percent.
“We
concluded that we have a shared interest,” said Treasury Secretary Scott
Bessent at a news conference in Geneva where U.S. and Chinese officials met
over the weekend. “The consensus from both delegations is that neither side
wanted a decoupling,” he said.
The
agreement breaks an impasse that had brought trade between China and the United
States to a halt. Many American businesses had suspended orders, holding out
hope that the two countries could strike a deal to bring down the tariff rates
while raising the possibility of price increases.
Chinese
factories also experienced a sharp decline in orders for export to the United
States, heaping additional pressure on a sluggish economy.
Global
markets jumped on the announcement. The benchmark index in Hong Kong surged 3
percent, about the same amount as S&P 500 stock futures.
Mr. Bessent
and Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, for the Trump
administration, said the two countries had substantive discussions on U.S.
demands that Beijing crack down on the trafficking of the chemical ingredients
used to make fentanyl. Mr. Bessent said the Chinese “understood the magnitude”
of the fentanyl crisis in the United States.
Mr. Trump
initially added a 20 percent tariff to Chinese exports, accusing the country of
not doing enough to stop the flow of fentanyl to the United States. That
punitive tariff remains in place.
Mr. Greer
said the negotiations were underscored by “mutual understanding and mutual
respect,” but noted that China was the only country to retaliate against the
United States after President Trump imposed so-called reciprocal tariffs on
dozens of countries last month.
Christopher
Buckley contributed reporting from Taipei, Taiwan and Nick Cumming-Bruce from
Geneva.
Daisuke
Wakabayashi is an Asia business correspondent for The Times based in Seoul,
covering economic, corporate and geopolitical stories from the region.
Alan
Rappeport is an economic policy reporter for The Times, based in Washington. He
covers the Treasury Department and writes about taxes, trade and fiscal
matters.
Ana Swanson
covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in
Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade.
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