(Photo/Xinhua)
US urged to continue to work with China to meet each other halfway
China and the US released a joint statement on Monday following the China-US Economic and Trade Meeting in Geneva, announcing several key agreements, most notably a significant reduction in tariffs on both sides, which drew global attention and prompted an immediate and positive market response.
A spokesperson for China's Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) said on Monday that the high-level economic and trade talks between China and the US have achieved substantial progress, resulting in a major reduction in bilateral tariffs.
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, Xinhua News Agency reported.
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, per Xinhua.
The US will remove a total of 91-percent additional tariffs on Chinese products and China will accordingly cut 91-percent countermeasure additional tariffs against US imports. The US will suspend a 24-percent "reciprocal tariff" and China likewise will suspend a 24-percent countermeasure tariff, said the MOFCOM spokesperson.
In response to a question regarding whether China will remove any export licensing requirements for rare earth or critical minerals, Lin Jian, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday at regular press briefing that for anything specific of the meeting, I'd refer you to China's readout and the joint statement by the two sides.
Meeting expectations
This move is in line with the expectations of producers and consumers in both countries, and is in the interests of both countries and the world, the MOFCOM spokesperson said, commenting on the result of the bilateral trade talks in Geneva. "We hope that the US will continue to work with China to meet each other halfway based on this meeting, thoroughly correct the wrong practice of unilateral tariff increases, continuously strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, maintain the healthy, stable and sustainable development of China-US economic and trade relations, and jointly inject more certainty and stability into the world economy," the spokesperson said.
According to the joint statement, both sides recognize the importance of their bilateral economic and trade relationship to both countries and the global economy; recognize the importance of a sustainable, long-term, and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship; reflect on their recent discussions and believe that continued discussions have the potential to address the concerns of each side in their economic and trade relationship; move forward in the spirit of mutual opening, continued communication, cooperation, and mutual respect, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The statement also said that both sides 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 US side will be Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, and Jamieson Greer, US Trade Representative.
These discussions may be conducted alternately in China and the US, or a third country upon agreement of the two sides. As required, the two sides may conduct working-level consultations on relevant economic and trade issues, per statement.
The tariff reduction arrangement as announced in the joint statement on Monday is significant and should be able to meet market expectations for the moment, although the two sides will need more meetings to address other existing tariffs, Cui Fan, a professor at the School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Monday.
"Essentially, 91 percent of tariffs on each side is already erased, and non-tariff measures imposed by the Chinese side since April 2 are also put on pause or canceled," Cui said.
Market responses
The substantial outcome of the China-US trade meeting in Geneva has immediately garnered significant attention from global media and investors, particularly in the US, with many applauding the positive results for businesses.
When reporting the trade talk result, the Wall Street Journal used the notable headline "Surprise US-China Trade Deal Gives Global Economy a Big Reprieve". The report noted that "tariff reductions are bigger than expected."
Zhiwei Zhang, the president and chief economist of Pinpoint Asset Management, an investment firm in Hong Kong, called the agreement a "good starting point" for both countries, the New York Times reported on Monday.
"From China's perspective, the outcome of this meeting is a success, as China took a tough stance on the US threat of high tariffs and eventually managed to get the tariffs down significantly without making concessions," Zhang said.
The announcement (in the joint statement) represents a step toward de-escalating a tariff war that has led to an immediate slump in trade across the Pacific Ocean, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
The result of the trade talks has immediately sent a positive signal to the US market, which has long been expecting positive news after tariff policies caused increasing uncertainty for the economy.
According to the CNBC report on Monday, US Treasury yields moved higher on Monday after the US and China agreed to slash tariffs on each other's goods, in a move welcomed by investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,021 points, or 2.5 percent on Monday opening. The S&P 500 popped 2.9 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite surged 4 percent, the report said.
Global investors are cheering a thaw in the trade war sparked by the US' massive tariffs, which have roiled global markets, disrupted supply chains and stoked recession fears, CNN reported on Monday.
"This looks like a very significant de-escalation in US-China bilateral tariffs," said Brian Coulton, Chief Economist, Fitch Ratings in a statement sent to the Global Times on Monday.
Asian and European markets gained on Monday upon the agreement between the US and China to reduce tariffs on each other's goods, sparking a rally in global financial markets.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.82 percent, the Shenzhen Component Index gained 1.72 percent, and the ChiNext Index climbed 2.63 percent. Asia-Pacific markets broadly closed higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 ended up 0.42 percent, while South Korea's KOSPI rose 1.17 percent.
While many have welcomed the substantial progress, some others are taking a wait-and-see approach to the current outcome of the trade talks.
While markets greeted recent reports of progress, history suggests that it could take time to reach a detailed agreement, if one is possible, Bloomberg reported, recalling when the two sides also agreed to put their dispute "on hold" after a round of negotiations in 2018, but the US soon backed away from that deal, leading to more than 18 months of further tariffs and talks before the signing of the "Phase One" trade deal in January 2020.
"It is a major step towards resolving the trade conflict between the world's two largest economies, one that deeply unsettled global markets and raised fears of a recession and higher inflation," US media outlet Newsweek reported on Monday, commenting on the trade talk result.
Having said that, Newsweek claimed that "in many ways, the hard work begins now," noting that "Agreeing a deeper and more complex deal between the US and China that resolves the many disputes on trade and other related issues, such as fentanyl, is a difficult task."
The tariff reduction announced on Monday is quite substantial but this should not be the end, Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Monday.
The agreement over an economic, trade consultation mechanism is actually the bigger result from the statement on Monday, as it allows both parties to avoid trying to guess the other's move due to a lack of sufficient information and to effectively and jointly resolve issues of mutual concern, Zhou said.
