China Trade Deal: Repair 4 Years of Biden Neglect

by Oui Mon May 12th, 2025 at 07:46:51 AM EST

Repair channel of communication that was wasted by the previous administration ...

90 Day Pause On Retaliatory Tariffs

Want an end for tit-for-tat destructive retaliation ... both sides do not want a decoupling. The present situation was not tenable as in effect it was a trade embargo. Both sides presented their countries interests very well and were very well prepared. Positive discussions with optimism to repair the trade imbalance which ran up to 1.2tn dollars last year.

The White House announced a "trade deal" with China after productive talks in Geneva, but details remain unclear. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed a deal was struck, aiming to de-escalate the trade war.[_link]
White House Announces U.S.-China Trade... pic.twitter.com/tzLhPEb8tG
— Spotlight on China (@spotlightoncn) May 12, 2025

Geneva press briefing ongoing ...

Bessent: We have reached agreement with China on a 90-day pause, moving down tariff levels | Breaking News |

Both sides will move reciprocal/retaliatory tariffs down by 115%

Both sides very committed to 90-day pause period (Greer)

An effective trade embargo was not sustainable practice for both sides (Greer)

Throughout the trade process, we have had a plan in place

And now, we have a mechanism for continued talks

The consensus this weekend is that neither side wants a decoupling

We do want more balanced trade, would like to see China open to more US goods

As negotiations move forward, think there is a possibility to see purchase agreements

Look forward to very good discussions now that there is the mechanism in place for talks

It's a significant climb down from a trade embargo of course. But again, now all of this hinges on how talks will develop over the next 90 days. But unless things really go south, that timeline is one that I expect can be postponed time and time again. In the meantime though, Trump has done quite the job in hoodwinking the world into accepting the highest effective tariff levels in the US since the 1940s (even with this latest reduction) as being a good thing.