Geneva, 12 May 2025 (Xinhua News)

China and the United States announced here Monday a series of tariff modification measures aimed at easing trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.

The decision followed a two-day China-U.S. high-level meeting on economic and trade affairs, where both sides recognized the importance of their bilateral economic and trade relationship to both countries and the global economy, a joint statement said, noting that both sides emphasized the need for a sustainable, long-term and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship.

According to the statement, the United States will place a 90-day pause on 24 percentage points of the additional ad valorem rate of duty on articles of China (including articles of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macau Special Administrative Region) starting from April 2, while retaining the remaining rate of 10 percent on those articles. It will also remove the additional tariff rates on imports from China announced on April 8 and 9 respectively.

According to the Executive Order 14259 issued on April 8 by the White House, the United States raised "reciprocal" tariff rate on China to 84 percent. One day later, the White House in another executive order hiked rate to 125 percent.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and trade representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday they reached a deal with China to cut the US trade deficit, describing “substantial progress” in high-stakes talks with Chinese officials but offering no details as two days of negotiations concluded in Geneva.

Ad valorem tax is a tax based on the assessed value of assets, goods or services being taxed.

China will modify accordingly the application of the additional ad valorem rate of duty on articles of the United States set forth in Announcement of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council No. 4 of 2025, by suspending 24 percentage points of that rate for an initial period of 90 days, while retaining the remaining additional ad valorem rate of 10 percent on those articles.

It will remove the modified additional ad valorem rates of duty on those articles imposed by the No. 5 and No. 6 announcements issued by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council on April 9 and 11 respectively.

China will also adopt all necessary administrative measures to suspend or remove the non-tariff countermeasures taken against the United States since April 2, 2025.

The two sides commit to take the actions by May 14.

The two sides will also establish a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations. These discussions may be conducted alternately in China and the United States, or a third country upon agreement of the Parties, the statement said.

The meeting was the first face-to-face interaction between senior US and Chinese economic officials since Trump took office and launched a global tariff blitz, declaring a national emergency over the US fentanyl crisis and imposing a 20 per cent tariff on Chinese goods in February.

Trump followed with a 34 per cent "reciprocal" duty on Chinese imports in April, and subsequent rounds pushed the rates into triple digits, bringing nearly US$600 billion in two-way trade to a standstill.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and trade representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday they reached a deal with China to cut the US trade deficit, describing “substantial progress” in high-stakes talks with Chinese officials but offering no details as two days of negotiations concluded in Geneva.