The United States (US) and China have agreed to extend their tariff truce by another 90 days, temporarily averting steep new duties on each other's goods as US retailers prepare to boost inventories ahead of the critical end-of-year holiday season, reports Reuters.
US President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform on Monday that he had signed an executive order suspending the imposition of higher tariffs until 12:01 am EST (0501 GMT) on November 10, with all other elements of the truce to remain in place.
China's Commerce Ministry issued a parallel pause on extra tariffs early on Tuesday, also postponing for 90 days the addition of US firms it had targeted in April to trade and investment restriction lists.
"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," Trump's executive order stated, using the acronym for the People's Republic of China.
The tariff truce between Beijing and Washington had been due to expire on Tuesday at 12:01 am EDT (0401 GMT). The extension until early November buys crucial time for the seasonal autumn surge of imports for the Christmas season, including electronics, apparel and toys at lower tariff rates.
The new order prevents US tariffs on Chinese goods from shooting up to 145 per cent, while Chinese tariffs on US goods were set to hit 125 per cent – rates that would have resulted in a virtual trade embargo between the two countries. It locks in place – at least for now – a 30 per cent tariff on Chinese imports, with Chinese duties on US imports at 10 per cent.
There was relief on the streets of China's capital, where officials are grappling with the challenge Trump's trade policy poses to the economy's long-standing, export-oriented growth model.
"I don't think either China or the US wants to see their relationship continue to deteriorate," said Wang Mingyue, a 39-year-old professional working in robotics.
"That's why both are taking the current approach, but the game and confrontation may not be over yet - so there's still risk."
Markets showed optimism for a breakthrough between the two superpowers, with Asian stocks rising and currencies mostly steady, after treading water for weeks.
Trump told CNBC last week that the US and China were getting very close to a trade agreement and he would meet Xi before the end of the year if a deal was struck.
Trade 'detente' continued
The two sides in May announced a truce in their trade dispute after talks in Geneva, Switzerland, agreeing to a 90-day period to allow further talks.
They met again in Stockholm, Sweden, in late July, and US negotiators returned to Washington with a recommendation that Trump extend the deadline.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said repeatedly that the triple-digit import duties both sides slapped on each other's goods in the spring were untenable and had essentially imposed a trade embargo between the world's two largest economies.
"It wouldn't be a Trump-style negotiation if it didn't go right down to the wire," said Kelly Ann Shaw, a senior White House trade official during Trump's first term and now with law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
She said Trump had likely pressed China for further concessions before agreeing to the extension. Trump pushed for additional concessions on Sunday, urging China to quadruple its soybean purchases, although analysts questioned the feasibility of any such deal. Trump did not repeat the demand on Monday.
"The whole reason for the 90-day pause in the first place was to lay the groundwork for broader negotiations and there's been a lot of noise about everything from soybeans to export controls to excess capacity over the weekend," Shaw said.
Ryan Majerus, a former US trade official now with the King & Spalding law firm, said the news would give both sides more time to work through longstanding trade concerns.
"This will undoubtedly lower anxiety on both sides as talks continue, and as the US and China work toward a framework deal in the fall," he said.
Imports from China early this year had surged to beat Trump's tariffs, but dropped steeply in June, US Commerce Department data showed last week.
The US trade deficit with China tumbled by roughly a third in June to $9.5 billion, its narrowest since February 2004. Over five consecutive months of declines, the US trade gap with China has narrowed by $22.2 billion – a 70 per cent reduction from a year earlier.
Washington has also been pressing Beijing to stop buying Russian oil to pressure Moscow over its war in Ukraine, with Trump threatening to impose secondary tariffs on China.
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