Donald Trump touted a 90-day pause on his trade war with China, which will see both countries back away from sky high tariffs that had ground shipments to a halt.
In a joint statement, the U.S. and China said that they would suspend their tariffs for three months as negotiations continue. The U.S. tariff on Chinese imports will drop to 30%, from its current 145%. China’s tariffs on U.S. imports will go from 125% to 10%.
“The relationship is very good. We are not looking to hurt China,” Trump said, adding that he will speak to China’s president Xi Jinping, “maybe at the end of the week.”
Markets spiked on the news of the tariff pause.
Trump said that the flow of fentanyl from China will be a significant part of the negotiations. “There’s a very big incentive for China to stop, and I take them at their word they’re going to work on that, I think, very hard.”
Even though it’s unclear what concessions China made for Trump to back down, the president tried to make the argument that his economic policy was a success. A rationale for imposing across-the-board tariffs worldwide, unveiled as Liberation Day in April, was to compel companies to move their manufacturing to the United States.
He said that he spoke to Apple CEO Tim Cook this morning, and “he’s going to I think he’s going to even up his numbers, $500 billion, he’s going to be building a lot of plants in the United States for Apple.”
Also unclear is whether China will back away from its pledge to reduce imports of U.S. made films. Trump also has proposed 100% tariffs on movies made in other countries, although the White House has cautioned that no decisions have been made and the president plans to meet with industry representatives.
