Geneva, May 12
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced here on Monday that an agreement has been reached with China, at the trade talks held here, for a bilateral reduction in tariffs with effect from May 14 for a 90-day period.
The US will reduce tariffs on Chinese goods from 145 per cent to 30 per cent for 90 days, while China said it will cut tariffs on US goods from 125 per cent to 10 per cent for 90 days.
“We have reached an agreement on a 90-day pause and to substantially move down the tariff levels. Both sides on the reciprocal tariffs will move their tariffs down 115 per cent,” Bessent said at a press conference.
“We had a very robust and productive discussion on steps forward on fentanyl. We are in agreement that neither side wants to decouple,” he added.
According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, after taking the aforementioned actions, the two countries will establish a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations.
The representative from the Chinese side for these discussions will be He Lifeng, Vice Premier of the State Council, and the representatives from the U.S. side will be Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, and Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative.