US, China sign deal to roll back tariffs for 90 days

Geneva: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced here on Monday that an agreement has been reached with China, at the trade talks held here, for a bilateral reduction in tariffs with effect from May 14 for a 90-day period.

The US will reduce tariffs on Chinese goods from 145 per cent to 30 per cent for 90 days, while China said it will cut tariffs on US goods from 125 per cent to 10 per cent for 90 days.

“We have reached an agreement on a 90-day pause and to substantially move down the tariff levels. Both sides on the reciprocal tariffs will move their tariffs down 115 per cent,” Bessent said at a press conference.

“We had a very robust and productive discussion on steps forward on fentanyl. We are in agreement that neither side wants to decouple,” he added.

According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, after taking the aforementioned actions, the two countries will establish a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations.

The representative from the Chinese side for these discussions will be He Lifeng, Vice Premier of the State Council, and the representatives from the U.S. side will be Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, and Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative.

These discussions may be conducted alternately in China and the United States, or a third country upon agreement of the two Parties. As required, the two sides may conduct working-level consultations on relevant economic and trade issues, the statement explained.

US Trade Representative Greer told journalists that “differences were not as large as maybe thought.” Greer said the two sides are having constructive conversations on the issue of fentanyl.

“The deal we struck with our Chinese partners that will help reduce the $1.2 trillion U.S. global goods trade deficit,” he added.

This was the first face-to-face meeting between high level US and Chinese officials since Donald Trump took over as President and triggered a global trade war with a massive hike in US tariffs as part of his America First policy.

IANS