US and China reach agreement on trade as President Donald Trump describes deal as a ‘total reset'

Sky News AU

11-05-2025

The United States and China have reached an agreement on trade after a bout of tit-for-tat tariff increases early in the year and two days of negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, over the weekend.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters on Sunday the deal had been reached with China to cut the US trade deficit which was a 'massive $1.2 trillion'.
Mr Bessent said the details of the deal would be revealed on Monday, with President Donald Trump fully aware of the 'productive talks' with China's Vice Premier He Lifeng and two other Chinese vice ministers.
Both Mr Bessent and Mr Greer did not mention any plans to cut punishing US tariffs of 145 per cent on Chinese goods, China's 125 per cent tariffs on US goods and took no questions from reporters.
The US Treasury chief has said previously that these duties amount to a trade embargo between the world's two largest economies and need to be "de-escalated".
In a social media post on Sunday, President Trump said the two nations had a 'very good meeting' which hailed a 'total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner'.
'We want to see, for the good of both China and the US, an opening up of China to American business. Great progress made,' he wrote.
Mr Greer described the Geneva meetings' conclusion as "a deal we struck with our Chinese partners" that will help reduce the $1.2 trillion US global goods trade deficit.
"And this was, as the secretary pointed out, a very constructive two days," Mr Greer said.
"It's important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought.'
Mr Greer described Vice Premier He, Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang and Vice Finance Minister Liao Min 'tough negotiators' after the first face-to-face interaction between senior US and Chinese economic officials since President Trump's inauguration.
President Trump followed with a 34 per cent "reciprocal" duty on Chinese imports in April, and subsequent rounds pushed the rates into triple digits, bringing nearly $600 billion in two-way trade to a standstill.
China had insisted that tariffs be lowered in any talks.
On Friday, President Trump said an 80 per cent tariff on Chinese goods "seems right," suggesting for the first time a specific reduction target.
Mr Greer said there was a lot of groundwork done before the Geneva meetings on Saturday and Sunday, and that the result would address the national emergency that President Trump declared over growing US trade deficits.
"We're confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to work toward resolving that national emergency," Mr Greer said.
A White House press release that simply repeated Mr Bessent's and Mr Greer's brief comments with no details ran the headline: "US announces China trade deal in Geneva."
The Chinese officials were expected to brief reporters in Geneva later on Sunday evening.
-with Reuters