Onwuka Nzeshi 
The United States and China have agreed to apply the brakes and temporary scale down on the high tariffs both countries had imposed on each other in the last couple months. The “cease fire” which will last for 90 days, followed an intensive trade negotiation held at the weekend in Geneva, Switzerland.
Under the agreement reached at the end of the meeting, Washington and Beijing would reduce their reciprocal tariffs by 115 percentage points for three months. The temporary reductions would effectively reduce the level of U.S. tariffs still in place on Chinese goods to about 30 per cent while China would reduce its levies on American imports to 10 per cent.
In a joint statement shared by the Chinese Embassy in Abuja, representatives of both countries at the Geneva meeting recognized the importance of their bilateral economic and trade relationship not only to both countries but also the global economy.
They also recognised the importance of a sustainable, long-term, and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship. Consequently, the parties have committed to take the following actions by May 14, 2025:
“The United States will (i) modify the application 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) set forth in Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025, by suspending 24 percentage points of that rate for an initial period of 90 days, while retaining the remaining ad valorem rate of 10 percent on those articles pursuant to the terms of said Order; and (ii) removing the modified additional ad valorem rates of duty on those articles imposed by Executive Order 14259 of April 8, 2025 and Executive Order 14266 of April 9, 2025.
“China will (i) 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, and removing the modified additional ad valorem rates of duty on those articles imposed by Announcement of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council No. 5 of 2025 and Announcement of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council No. 6 of 2025; and (ii) adopt all necessary administrative measures to suspend or remove the non-tariff countermeasures taken against the United States since April 2, 2025.
In the mean time, both parties have also agreed to establish a mechanism to continue further discussions about economic and trade relations.
According to a post from the Xinhua News Agency, China will be represented at the these discussions by He Lifeng, Vice Premier of the State Council, while the U.S. will be represented by Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, and Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative.
