WASHINGTON − Top Trump administration officials said they reached a trade agreement with China after two days of negotiations in Geneva, marking a potentially massive victory for President Donald Trump amid his trade war with Beijing.
The White House announced a “China trade deal” in a May 11 statement, but did not disclose details. The apparent agreement came together sooner than most observers expected after Trump’s 145% tariffs on Chinese imports virtually halted $600 billion in annual trade between the world’s two largest economies.
“It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said from Geneva in brief remarks to reporters. “That being said, there was a lot of groundwork that went into these two days.”
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The two days of meetings in Switzerland were the first between top leaders of the United States and China since Trump imposed the sweeping tariffs on the Asian nation, which responded with 125% retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports.
Heading into the weekend trade negotiations, Trump signaled a willingness to drop U.S. tariffs on China to an 80% rate, though it was not immediately clear if either side agreed to lower tariffs on the other.
“I’m happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led the talks in Geneva, said in a statement. “We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive.”
Bessent said the White House will conduct a “complete briefing” on the morning of May 12 to discuss details of the agreement.
“It was done in the spirit of cooperation, shared interests, mutual respect, and we look forward to sharing the details with you tomorrow morning,” Bessent said.
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China plans to make joint statement with US
China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng described the meetings as “candid, in-depth and constructive” and said “substantial progress was made and important consensus was reached,” according to Chinese state media.
Lifeng said the two sides agreed to establish a “China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism” and said both parties will “finalize the relevant details as soon as possible” and release a joint statement on May 12.
Trump, who was in Washington during the trade negotiations, has not commented on the deal, but in a Truth Social post the previous day, he touted “great progress” from the talks, which he described as “a total reset.”
Trump has singled out China, which exported nearly $300 billion more in goods into the United States than it imported, as the top offender of a $1.2 trillion U.S. trade deficit, which he argued has decimated U.S. manufacturing. Trump has defended his tariffs as key to reviving the manufacturing sector.
“We’re confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to resolve, work toward resolving that national emergency,” Greer said.
Trade agreement: Trump announces US-UK deal with focus on steel, autos and beef
A deal with China would continue momentum for the White House after Trump on May 8 reached a trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, which was the first deal reached by his administration as Trump’s economic team negotiates trade policy with more than 170 countries.
The negotiations were prompted by Trump in early April, imposing sweeping tariffs on most countries, with China hit with the steepest tariffs.
With the U.S. deal with Britain, the ninth largest U.S. trading partner, Trump kept a 10% baseline tariff on British imports but lowered levies on British automobiles from 25% to 10%, among other concessions. The U.K. agreed to reduce or eliminate several “non-tariff” trade barriers that impeded U.S. trade with Britain.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump officials say trade deal reached with China
