Tariff truce extended by 90 days
US President Donald Trump ordered a delay in the reimposition of higher tariffs on Chinese goods, hours before a trade truce between Washington and Beijing was due to expire.
The White House's halt on steeper tariffs will be in place until Nov 10.
'I have just signed an Executive Order that will extend the Tariff Suspension on China for another 90 days,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
While the United States and China slapped escalating tariffs on each other's products this year, bringing them to prohibitive triple-digit levels and snarling trade, both countries in May agreed to temporarily lower them.
Their 90-day halt of steeper levies had been due to expire yesterday.
Around the same time that Trump confirmed the new extension, Chinese state media Xinhua news agency published a joint statement from US-China talks in Stockholm saying it would also extend its side of the truce.
China will continue suspending its earlier tariff hike for 90 days starting yesterday while retaining a 10% duty, the report said.
It would also 'take or maintain necessary measures to suspend or remove non-tariff countermeasures against the United States, as agreed in the Geneva joint declaration,' Xinhua reported.
In the executive order posted yesterday to its website, the White House reiterated its position that there are 'large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits' and they 'constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the United States'.
The order acknowledged Washington's ongoing discussions with Beijing 'to address the lack of trade reciprocity in our economic relationship' and noted that China has continued to 'take significant steps toward remedying' the US complaints.
The 90-day extension means the truce is now set to expire just after midnight on Nov 10.
US-China Business Council president Sean Stein said the current extension is 'critical to give the two governments time to negotiate an agreement' providing much-needed certainty for companies to make plans.
A trade deal, in turn, would 'pave the way for a Trump-Xi summit this fall,' said Asia Society Policy Institute senior vice-president Wendy Cutler.
But Cutler, herself a former US trade official, said: 'This will be far from a walk in the park.' — AFP
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