White House announces that the United States and China will significantly reduce tariffs within 90 days

The U.S. and China agreed to temporary but significant easing tariffs over the past few months, which made the weekend's rising trade talks a significant success, the country said in a joint statement shared by the White House.

In a joint statement issued early Monday morning, both parties said they had agreed Ongoing “Discussion” Both sides have the potential to address the concerns of both sides in economic and trade relations,” “moving forward with a spirit of openness, continuous communication, cooperation and mutual respect,” both sides promised a 90-day suspension of the majority of the collections since early April.

“We have reached a deal for a 90-day pause,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, who spent the weekend at a meeting with his Chinese counterparts. He said Washington and Beijing will reduce their countdown tariffs by 115 percentage points in three months to allow room for negotiations.

Bessent said the temporary reduction would effectively reduce the U.S. tariff levels on Chinese goods to about 30%, while China imposes its tax on U.S. imports to 10%.

The White House imposed about 145% of all goods imported from China, and Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports cast a long-term shadow on global financial markets as the world’s two largest economies appear to be trapped in a trade war.

“Both countries represent their national interests well,” Bescent said at a press conference in Geneva on Monday, along with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. “We both have an interest in balancing trade and the United States will continue to move in that direction.”

Commodity and money markets in Asia and beyond were significantly boosted by news of a breakthrough in negotiations on Monday.

Speaking on Sunday, Bessent said “significant progress” was made in sensitive negotiations with his Chinese counterparts in Geneva, and Greer suggested a deal had been reached without prompting the details.

“It is important to understand that we can reach a consensus quickly, which reflects that there are not many differences that may be possible,” Greer told reporters on Sunday.