US and China suspend new tariffs with 90-day truce

According to a statement released by the White House, the world’s two biggest economies, the US and China, agreed to halt new trade tariffs in a meeting convened after the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In the statement, the White House said that President Trump has agreed that on January 1, 2019, he will leave the tariffs on $200 billion worth of product at the 10% rate, and not raise it to 25% for 90 days.

During this period of time, both sides are expected to negotiate on structural changes with respect to forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft, services and agriculture.

The White House warned that the 10% tariffs will be raised to 25% unless the parties reach an agreement at the end of this period of time.

However, it should be noted the deal does not remove the existing tariffs that both sides have applied on one another.

So far, the US has imposed import taxes on $250 billion in Chinese products and has threatened tariffs on an additional $267 billion worth of imports, while China has imposed or proposed tariffs on $110 billion of US goods.