US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, left, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer meet the media on the second day of a bilateral meeting between the United States and China, in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
GENEVA (AP) — U.S. and Chinese officials said Monday they had reached a deal to roll back most of their recent tariffs and call a 90-day pause to keep talking to resolve their trade disputes.
Stock markets rose sharply as the globe’s two major economic powers took a step back from a clash that has unsettled the global economy.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the U.S. agreed to drop its 145% tariff rate on Chinese goods by 115 percentage points to 30%, while China agreed to lower its rate on U.S. goods by the same amount to 10%.
Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the tariff reductions at a news conference in Geneva.
The two officials struck a positive tone as they said the two sides had set up consultations to continue discussing their trade issues.
Bessent said at the news briefing after two days of talks that the high tariff levels would have amounted to a complete blockage of each sides goods, an outcome neither side wants.
“The consensus from both delegations this weekend is neither side wants a decoupling,” Bessent said. “And what had occurred with these very high tariff … was an embargo, the equivalent of an embargo. And neither side wants that. We do want trade. We want more balanced trade. And I think that both sides are committed to achieving that.”
Trump last month raised U.S. tariffs on China to a combined 145% and China retaliated by hitting American imports with a 125% levy. Tariffs that high essentially amount to the two countries boycotting each other’s products, disrupting trade that last year topped $660 billion.
The announcement by the U.S. and China sent shares surging, with U.S. futures jumping more than 2%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged nearly 3% and benchmarks in Germany and France were both up 0.7%
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