The United States and China have agreed to extend their tariff truce for another 90 days, providing relief to businesses preparing for the end-of-year holiday season.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending the imposition of higher tariffs until November 10, 2025, with current tariffs remaining in place.
President Trump had announced on his Truth Social platform on Monday that he had signed an executive order suspending the imposition of higher tariffs until 12:01 a.m. EST (0501 GMT).
“The United States continues to have discussions with the PRC to address the lack of trade reciprocity in our economic relationship and our resulting national and economic security concerns,” he said.
Trump referring to the People’s Republic of China, said, “through these discussions, the PRC 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.”
China’s Commerce Ministry announced a matching 90-day pause early on Tuesday, delaying the addition of targeted US companies to its trade and investment restriction lists.
The ministry described the move as “a measure to further implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state during their June 5 call” and said it would contribute to global economic stability.
The agreement prevented U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from jumping to 145 per cent and Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods from rising to 125 per cent rates that analysts said would have amounted to a near-total trade embargo.
Current tariffs remain at 30.per cent on Chinese imports into the US and 10% on US imports into China.
The extension is set to benefit seasonal imports of electronics, apparel and toys for the Christmas period.
“We’ll see what happens,” Trump said at a White House news conference, noting his “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump said last week on CNBC that both sides were “very close” to a trade agreement and he would meet with Xi before the year’s end if a deal was finalised.
“It’s positive news,” said Wendy Cutler, a former senior US trade official and vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
“Combined with some of the de-escalatory steps both the United States and China have taken in recent weeks, it demonstrated that both sides are trying to see if they can reach some kind of a deal that would lay the groundwork for a Xi-Trump meeting this fall.”
