The U.S. and China have agreed to cut tariffs on $60 billion worth of goods, from U.S. coal to Chinese toys. The late Sunday announcement falls under the “30-for-30” framework, covering roughly $30 billion of U.S. exports to China and $30 billion of Chinese exports to the U.S. The U.S.-China Board of Trade, established during President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing in May, recommended more favorable tariff treatment for “non-sensitive” products.
The proposed cuts would bring relief to a wide range of goods, including live horses, camels, and fishing tackle. The White House has not yet specified the size of tariff reductions or when the cuts will be implemented, although the Chinese Commerce Ministry said tariffs on around 90% of the products on each list would return to “most favored nation” levels, referring to ordinary baseline tariff rates that vary based on product. Read More: America, China and the Evolving New World Order TIME has reached out to the White House and Chinese Commerce Ministry for comment.
Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement on Sunday. The Chinese Commerce Ministry said on Monday that the agreement would “further stabilize” U.S.-China trade relations and “create favorable conditions” for Chinese exports to the U.S. The agreement marks the latest effort to ease economic tensions between the two global superpowers after an escalating trade war last year brought tariffs to prohibitively high levels.
It comes days after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump met in Washington, D.C., and agreed to extend a trade truce until Jan. 10. The two countries have repeatedly extended their trade truce since May 2025, when they agreed to lower additional duties to 30% on Chinese goods and 10% on U.S. goods. After the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s emergency tariffs in February, the Trump Administration imposed a separate 12.5% levy on many Chinese products, on top of earlier Section 301 tariffs targeting Chinese trade practices and Section 232 sectoral tariffs.
Trump has sought to use tariffs to shrink the U.S. trade deficit with China and bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Greer told CNBC on Friday that the deficit on goods trade with China has fallen by 40% since Trump took office. The deficit is on track to hit $140 billion this year, he said, compared to $295 billion in 2024, according to Census Bureau data.
But the tariff war has also strained both economies and pushed Chinese exporters to seek other markets. American business owners previously told TIME that abrupt tariff changes had driven up costs and forced them to consider shifting production out of China, which could be prohibitively expensive. Read More: Surveys Show More Americans Warming to China “This is less the demolition of a tariff wall than the opening of a safety valve: enough to let off steam, not enough to change the structure of the conflict,” says Henry Gao, professor of law at Singapore Management University.
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