U.S., China Agree to Reduce Tariffs Pending Deal

If the U.S. and China can work toward a deal, the two countries have agreed to roll back tariffs on each other’s goods in phases, Bloomberg reports.

According to the report, “if confirmed by the U.S., such an understanding could help provide a road-map to a deal de-escalating the trade war that’s cast a shadow over the world economy. China’s key demand since the start of negotiations has been the removal of punitive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, which by now apply to the majority of its exports to the U.S.”

Trump administration officials have recently expressed optimism that phase one of a comprehensive trade deal might come together this month, the report notes. The U.S.-China trade war has been ongoing for more than a year with repeated reversals between both sides.

Bloomberg has more information:

China and the U.S. have agreed to roll back tariffs on each other’s goods in phases as they work toward a deal between the two sides, a Ministry of Commerce spokesman said.

“In the past two weeks, top negotiators had serious, constructive discussions and agreed to remove the additional tariffs in phases as progress is made on the agreement,” spokesman Gao Feng said Thursday.

“If China, U.S. reach a phase-one deal, both sides should roll back existing additional tariffs in the same proportion simultaneously based on the content of the agreement, which is an important condition for reaching the agreement,” Gao said.

Read the full article here.