The US president extended the trade war truce for another 90 days hours before the tariff hike deadline.
US President Donald Trump on Monday extended the tariff truce with China for another 90 days. Beijing responded with a reciprocal move, announcing the suspension of retaliatory measures for the same period.
Trump signed an executive order on the pause hours before the previous 90-day truce was set to expire. The deadline is now extended until mid-November.
“I have just signed an Executive Order that will extend the Tariff Suspension on China for another 90 days. All other elements of the Agreement will remain the same,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry also announced Beijing will suspend additional tariffs on US goods for the same period.
If the extension of the truce fell through, the duties would have shot back to where they were amid the escalation between Washington and Beijing back in April, when the two nations repeatedly slapped increasingly harsher levies on each other. At the height of the trade war, the US tariffs reached 145%, while the Chinese stood at 125%.
Trump’s executive order acknowledged that China has continued to “take significant steps toward remedying non-reciprocal trade arrangements” with the US. At the same time, it noted that a “large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits” still exist, constituting an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy” of the country.
The extension of the trade war truce comes after the US threatened China, as well as other major buyers of Russian crude, with another tariff hike, claiming that such trade helps sustain the Ukraine conflict. Beijing brushed off the threat, stating its partnership with Moscow remains “consistent and clear,” and stressed the country was in its full right to conduct its trade to suit its national interests best.
“It is legitimate and lawful for China to engage in economic, trade, and energy cooperation with other countries, including Russia,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Friday during a regular media briefing. “We will continue to take energy supply measures that are right for China based on our national interests.”
