China and US unveiled coordinated tariff revisions on 12 May – a move designed to ease longstanding trade frictions between the world’s two largest economies, according to a joint communiqué issued in Geneva by both governments, the China Daily reported.
As part of the agreement, the United States committed to lifting 91 percentage points of the additional tariffs previously imposed on Chinese goods. In parallel, China pledged to remove an equivalent 91 percentage points of its retaliatory tariffs on American imports.
Furthermore, the US will implement a 90-day suspension on 24 percentage points of its supplementary ad valorem duties – taxes calculated based on the value of imported goods. China, in turn, will mirror this measure by pausing 24 percentage points of its adjusted ad valorem tariffs on imports from the United States for the same period.
Trade experts and exporters welcomed the development as a constructive move for the global economy – offering a degree of stability amid persistent uncertainty.
The announcement followed a high-level dialogue on trade and economic matters held over the weekend in Geneva. Both parties recognised the pivotal importance of their bilateral trade ties in underpinning not only their own economies but also broader global economic stability.
A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce stated that the recent high-level trade discussions between Beijing and Washington had yielded meaningful progress – notably through the substantial reduction of bilateral tariffs. This outcome, the spokesperson said, aligns with the expectations of both producers and consumers in the two countries and serves the wider interests of the international community.
China expressed hope that the United States would continue to engage constructively, take reciprocal steps, and fully abandon the unilateral tariff measures it had previously imposed. The spokesperson emphasised the importance of deepening mutually beneficial cooperation going forward.
Despite the agreement, recent figures from the General Administration of Customs show that China’s trade with the United States – its third-largest trading partner – declined by 2.1 per cent year-on-year in the first four months of 2025, reaching 1.44 trillion yuan (approximately $199.9 billion).
Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, noted that the next priority should be the complete removal of the remaining punitive tariffs on both sides. He warned that such duties continue to place unnecessary strain on businesses and consumers, while also creating disruption across global supply chains.