China and the United States will each “reduce tariffs by 115%” for 90 days

On May 12, the Trump administration announced that it had reached an agreement with the Chinese government on a 90-day tariff reduction. U.S. Treasury Secretary Benson said at a press conference in Switzerland: “Both sides agreed to reduce tariffs by 115%.”

Benson said: “Both sides agreed that they did not want to have a ‘decoupling’,” emphasizing that the two countries are moving towards easing tensions.

According to the agreement, the United States will reduce the current total of 145% of additional tariffs on China to a total of 30% by the 14th. This 30% consists of a 10% reciprocal tariff base rate and a 20% additional tariff imposed on China in the name of dealing with illegal drugs.

Before the China-US consultations, President Trump said that “80% might be a good choice”, and the agreement reached this time showed a greater concession than before. Benson revealed at the press conference that China and the United States have agreed to build a “good mechanism to prevent the unfortunate tariff escalation from happening again.”

The Trump administration announced detailed reciprocal tariff measures on April 2, when China combined the base rate of 10% and the additional rate of 24% to 34%. Later, due to China’s retaliatory measures, the United States eventually raised the tariff to 125%.

According to the joint statement of the Chinese and American governments, the United States will withdraw the tariffs raised due to China’s retaliatory measures. The reciprocal tariff will be restored to the original 34%, and the 24% additional tariff will be suspended for 90 days.

China also took the same measures, reducing the current 125% additional tariff on the United States to 10% for 90 days. In addition, China has temporarily suspended or cancelled trade retaliatory measures against the United States other than tariffs.

In the first Sino-US ministerial meeting held from the 10th to the 11th, the US side was attended by Treasury Secretary Bessant and US Trade Representative (USTR) Representative Greer, and the Chinese side was attended by Vice Premier He Lifeng, who is in charge of economic policy.

“China is the only country that has retaliated with reciprocal tariffs,” Greer said at a press conference, noting that the cycle of tariff retaliation “is unsustainable.”