U.S., China extend 90-day tariff truce as Trump keeps up pressure
Without Trump's move, an additional tariff rate of 24 percent on Chinese goods coming into the United States would have taken effect early Tuesday, raising trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.
Coupled with a separate 20 percent tariff in place over the flow of fentanyl into the United States, the Trump administration has imposed 30 percent levies on imports from China since he became president for a second time.
After high-level trade talks in Stockholm in late July, officials had said the United States and China planned to extend the pause.
In the executive order, Trump said China "continues to take significant steps toward remedying non-reciprocal trade arrangements and addressing the concerns of the United States relating to economic and national security matters.
"Based on this additional information and recommendations from various senior officials, among other things, I have determined that it is necessary and appropriate to continue the suspension," he said.
On Tuesday in Beijing, the Chinese government issued a "joint statement" through state media in which it said both sides had agreed to refrain from applying a 24 percent tariff rate on imports from each other for an additional 90 days from Tuesday.
Earlier Monday, when asked about extending the truce struck in May, Trump told reporters, "We'll see what happens," adding he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have a "very good" relationship.
In mid-May, the United States and China backed away from their respective triple-digit tariff rates imposed during a trade war launched by Trump months after he took office for a nonconsecutive second term in January.
Since then, the truce in tit-for-tat tariffs that both countries agreed to in Geneva during their first round of trade talks has been in place.
Currently, the Trump administration is enforcing a 10 percent tariff as part of a planned 34 percent levy on all Chinese imports. The 10 percent rate was introduced in early April under the "reciprocal" U.S. tariff scheme, with the remainder to be negotiated during the pause.
China has also retained a 10 percent tariff as part of a 34 percent retaliatory duty on all U.S. goods, with the remaining 24 percent likewise subject to negotiation.
While signaling a conciliatory stance toward Xi, Trump suggested last week that the United States could impose a new tariff on China for continuing to purchase Russian oil, after ordering such a levy on India.
In a social media post Sunday, the president also demanded that China increase soybean imports from the United States fourfold, continuing to put pressure on the Asian powerhouse.
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