FULL TEXT: China, U.S. announce measures to ease tariff tensions

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND | Xinhua | 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.

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. ■

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Joint Statement on China-U.S. Economic and Trade Meeting in Geneva

The Government of the People’s Republic of China (“China”) and the Government of the United States of America (the “United States”),

Recognizing the importance of their bilateral economic and trade relationship to both countries and the global economy;

Recognizing the importance of a sustainable, long-term, and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship;

Reflecting on their recent discussions and believing that continued discussions have the potential to address the concerns of each side in their economic and trade relationship; and

Moving forward in the spirit of mutual opening, continued communication, cooperation, and mutual respect;

The Parties commit 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.

After taking the aforementioned actions, the Parties will establish a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations. The representative from the Chinese side for these discussions will be He Lifeng, Vice Premier of the State Council, and the representatives from the U.S. side will be Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, and Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative. These discussions may be conducted alternately in China and the United States, or a third country upon agreement of the Parties. As required, the two sides may conduct working-level consultations on relevant economic and trade issues. ■