The United States and China have agreed to a temporary pause on tariffs that both countries added over the last few months. This agreement was shared in a joint statement released by the White House and Chinese officials.
The statement says both countries will pause most new tariffs for 90 days to give trade talks more time to succeed. They agreed to keep communicating and work together with mutual respect.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking in Geneva, Switzerland, said the U.S. and China will cut their tariffs by 115 percentage points for the next three months. This means U.S. tariffs will drop to about 30% and China's tariffs to 10%.
China also agreed to ease some non-tariff trade restrictions, including allowing the export of rare earth materials that are used in computer chips and electric car batteries.
At the White House, President Trump said this is a step toward opening up China’s markets. He added, “They’ve agreed to open up, but it will take time to finalize.”
The agreement comes after both countries had set very high tariffs—up to 145% by the U.S. and 125% by China—which hurt global trade and slowed shipping at American ports.
Bessent said, “Neither country wants to stop trading. What we had before was like an embargo, and we don’t want that. We want fair and balanced trade.”
In another sign of change, Trump also announced a trade deal with the United Kingdom. The U.S. will lower tariffs on British cars from 27.5% to 10% and will remove taxes on steel and aluminum.
Markets React
News of the deal boosted stock markets. U.S. stock futures jumped, with the Dow rising more than 1,000 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also rose by 3.2% and 4%, respectively.
Bessent said talks in Geneva made strong progress. U.S. trade representative Greer added that the quick agreement shows that the differences between the two countries may not be as large as previously thought.
Still, some analysts are not sure the deal will last. Wei Yao, a researcher at Societe Generale, said the U.S. may still try to reduce its dependence on China for critical materials.
UBS Global Wealth Management expects the final U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods to settle between 30% and 40%.
