China, US slash sweeping tariffs in trade war climbdown
14 May 2025 08:31
BEIJING (AFP) The United States and China slashed sweeping tariffs on each others' goods for 90 days on Wednesday.Washington and Beijing agreed to drastically lower sky-high tariffs in a deal that emerged from pivotal talks at the weekend in Geneva.US President Donald Trump said that Washington now had the blueprint for a "very, very strong" trade deal with China that would see Beijing's economy "open up" to US businesses in an interview broadcast Tuesday on Fox News."We have the confines of a very, very strong deal with China. But the most exciting part of the deal...that's the opening up of China to US business," he told the US broadcaster while aboard Air Force One on the way to the start of his Gulf tour.Under the deal, the United States agreed to lower its tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 percent while China will reduce its own to 10 percent -- down by over 100 percentage points.
The reductions came into effect just after midnight Washington time on Wednesday, a major de-escalation in trade tensions that saw US tariffs on Chinese imports soar to up to 145 percent and even as high as 245 percent on some products.
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