Geneva, May 12, (dpa/GNA) – The US and China on Monday announced a reduction in their reciprocal import tariffs following a breakthrough in talks in Geneva to resolve a dispute that had threatened a key axis of global trade.
US tariffs on Chinese imports will go down to 30%, from 145%. Chinese tariffs on US imports will be reduced to 10%, from 125%.
The reduction is due to last for a period of 90 days and be put in place by Wednesday.
The decision was made “recognizing the importance of their bilateral economic and trade relationship to both countries and the global economy,” said a joint statement published by the White House.
The world’s two largest economies wanted to move forward “in the spirit of mutual opening, continued communication, cooperation, and mutual respect,” the statement said.
US President Donald Trump has used import tariffs as a key component of his economic policy, and imposed high tariffs on countries around the world only to reduce them again in many cases following negotiations.
A 10% base-level tariff remains in place for all imports to the US, apart from any other additional tariffs.
Delegations from both sides negotiated over the customs dispute in Switzerland over the weekend and revealed on Sunday that a deal had been struck.
On the publication of the joint statement with details of the agreement on Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in Geneva that the two sides had quickly agreed that neither was interested in a decoupling of the economies.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that agreed methods of communicating in the future would prevent a repeat of the escalation of tariffs and counter-tariffs seen since April.
According to the Commerce Ministry in Beijing, the US and China would continue a closer dialogue over such matters. It said Beijing hopes the US would use the Geneva meeting as a basis to correct its “erroneous” practice of imposing unilateral tariffs.
The deal was “an important step toward resolving differences between the two countries through equal dialogue and consultation,” a spokesman said.
The announcement of the US-China deal gave the DAX a boost on the German stock exchange, as it shot past 23,500 points and then eased back to 24,429 – about 1% above last Friday’s closing figure.
GNA
PDC