The United States and China have agreed to a temporary but significant flexibility of tariffs imposed in the last two months, the country said in a joint statement shared by the White House, announcing a significant success in commercial negotiations that increased during the weekend.
In the joint statement published on Monday morning, the two parties said they had agreed that ongoing discussions “ Have the potential to address the concerns of each side in their economic and commercial relationship “and that” advance in the spirit of mutual opening, continuous communication, cooperation and mutual respect “, both parties had committed to a 90 -day suspension in April.
“We have reached an agreement on a 90 -day break,” said the United States Treasury Secretary Scott Besent, journalists in Geneva, Switzerland, where the weekend was spent at meetings with Chinese counterparts. He said that Washington and Beijing would reduce their reciprocal tariffs by 115 percentage points for three months to give the negotiation room to advance.
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty
Besent said that temporal reductions would effectively reduce the level of US tariffs that still exist in Chinese products to approximately 30%, while China was reducing their taxes on US imports to 10%.
The imposition of White House taxes amounted to 145% in all goods imported from China, and Beijing retaliation rates or 125% in US imports, had thrown a long shadow on world financial markets when the two largest economies in the world passed early.
The high rates had a frozen virtual trade between the United States and China, with the main US ports that reported Drastic fall in traffic.
“The consensus of both delegations this weekend is Neinder Side wants a decoupling,” Besent told journalists in Geneva on Monday. “And what had happened with these very high rates … It was an embargo, the equivalent of an embargo, and Neith Side winging that. We do it because we want a more balanced trade. And I think they both promised to achieve it.”
In another sign that the United States can be ready to transfer in its protectionist commercial policies, President Trump on May 8 announced a Pact with the United Kingdom Under which the United States will reduce tariffs on British cars from 27.5% to 10%, while discarding steel and aluminum levies.
Arises from securities markets
The basic products and currency markets in Asia and beyond were significantly promoted with the news of a progress in negotiations on Monday. Stock futures in the United States also shot themselves, with the Dow winning more than 1000 points Before the opening of trade in New York on Monday, while the S&P 500 compound and Nasdaq increased 3.2% and 4%, respectively.
Speaking on Sunday, Besent said that there had been a “substantial progress” in the conversations between US and Chinese officials in Geneva, while Greer made fun of that an agreement had been reached that were not offered details.
“It is important to understand how fast we could reach an agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so great as far as thought,” Greer told journalists on Sunday.
Despite the reuse time, some Wall Street analysts questioned whether the truce will last and if the parties are committed to forge a more permanent agreement to relieve tensions.
Besent “declared that Neith the United States or China wants to decoupling. We are skeptical,” Wei Yao, Chief of Research Asia Pacific in Societe Generale Group. “For us, the thought in reducing China’s dependence for the supply of critical material seems more permanent, he even thought that the United States would not mind continuing to buy clothes, toys or even China iPhones.”