The United States and China said they have agreed a deal to slash reciprocal tariffs for now, as the world's two biggest economies seek to end a trade war that has disrupted the global outlook and set financial markets on edge.
Speaking after talks with Chinese officials in Geneva, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters the two sides had agreed on a 90-day pause on measures and that tariffs would come down by over 100 percentage points to 10%, taking effect on 14 May.
The two sides agreed to continue talks "in the spirit of mutual opening, continued communication, cooperation and mutual respect".
"Both countries represented their national interest very well," Mr Bessent said. "We both have an interest in balanced trade, the US will continue moving towards that."
Mr Bessent was speaking alongside US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer after the weekend talks in which both sides had hailed progress on narrowing differences.
"The consensus from both delegations this weekend is neither side wants a decoupling," Mr Bessent said.
"And what had occurred with these very high tariffs ... was the equivalent of an embargo, and neither side wants that. We do want trade," he said.
The Geneva meetings were the first face-to-face interactions between senior US and Chinese economic officials since US President Donald Trump returned to power and launched a global tariff blitz, imposing particularly hefty duties on China.
Since taking office in January, Mr Trump has hiked the tariffs paid by US importers for goods from China to 145%, in addition to those he imposed on many Chinese goods during his first term and the duties levied by the previous Biden administration.
China hit back by putting export curbs on some rare earth elements, vital for US manufacturers of weapons and electronic consumer goods, and raising tariffs on US goods to 125%.
The tariff dispute brought nearly $600 billion in two-way trade to a standstill, disrupting supply chains, sparking fears of stagflation and triggering some layoffs.
Financial markets have been looking out for signs of a thaw in the trade war and Wall Street stock futures climbed and the dollar firmed against safe haven peers today as the talks boosted hopes a global recession might be avoided.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, speaking to reporters at China's mission to the World Trade Organization earlier, described the talks as "candid, in-depth and constructive" on issues of concern to both countries.
"The meeting achieved substantial progress, and reached important consensus," he said, drawing applause from a large audience of Chinese officials present at the WTO office.
China and the US have convened numerous consultation bodies to try to resolve trade and economic differences in recent decades, including the Economic Working Group that former president Joe Biden's Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, established with Vice Premier He in 2023.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
These dialogues have provided forums for airing bilateral grievances, but have done little to advance Washington's longstanding goal to shift China's state dominated, export-driven economic model toward one driven by consumer spending.
The US and China held two days of talks on tariffs in Switzerland over the weekend.
The officials met at the gated villa of Switzerland's UN ambassador, overlooking Lake Geneva in the leafy suburb of Cologny. Black Mercedes vans with sirens shuttled to and from the venue over the weekend.
Neutral Switzerland was chosen as the venue following approaches by Swiss politicians on recent visits to China and the US.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe welcomed the 90-day pause.
He was speaking to reporters in Brussels where he is chairing a meeting of the Eurogroup of Finance Ministers.
"We recognise that the current uncertainty around global trade is having an impact on the economic outlook of many economies," Mr Donohoe said
"In that regard the indications of progress between America and China are welcome but of course our work with regard to the US will continue recognising that we have a trading relationship with the US that is worth billions of euro every single day," he added.
