US-China Trade Deal: Top Five Takeaways On 90-Day Pause In Geneva Talks

The US and China will temporarily lower tariffs on each other’s products, according to a joint statement released in Geneva.

• The combined 145% US levies on most Chinese imports will be reduced to 30%, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said, adding that the 125% Chinese duties on US goods will drop to 10% for 90 days.

• The 90-day pause period will give the world’s two largest economies more time to resolve their differences.

• All other previous tariffs imposed will remain for now.

  We have a plan and a process in place, US trade officials said, 'and now a mechanism for continued talk,' United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

• Strategic work in many areas that were exposed as supply chain weaknesses continues – whether it's medicine or semiconductors or steel, Bessent said. "We have identified five or six strategic industries with supply chain vulnerabilities," he added. We will continue moving towards US independence or supplies from reliable allies, he further added.

• The consensus from both sides post the weekend negotiations is that neither side wants a decoupling, the treasury secretary said.

• The United States deficit has ballooned to $1.2 trillion in goods as of the end of last year, Greer said, with US President Donald Trump announcing reciprocal tariffs on Liberation Day to bring down this deficit.

China was the only country to implement retaliation against the United States, Greer said. All other countries withheld retaliatory tariffs or chose to negotiate. "China retaliated with disproportionate and asymmetrical measures," he said, adding that this eventually escalated to a point where both economies had added 125% in tariffs.