Donald Trump. Credit: Joshua Sukoff, Shutterstock
The White House announced via a press release on Sunday (May 11, 2025) that the United States has reached a tentative trade agreement with China following two days of high-level negotiations in Geneva.
However, officials stopped short of sharing any concrete details, leaving questions over what was actually agreed.
US and China trade deal: Substantial progress, but no specifics
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led the talks alongside US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, described the meetings as “productive” and said a full briefing would take place on Monday, May 12.
“We’ve made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” Bessent told reporters, according to USA Today.
“It was done in the spirit of cooperation, shared interests, mutual respect,” he added, without offering specifics.
The statement followed a month-long standoff between the world’s two largest economies after both countries imposed tariffs exceeding 100 per cent on each other’s goods. The White House described the outcome as a “China trade deal”, but notably, neither Bessent nor Greer explicitly confirmed that a formal deal had been signed.
Trump touts a “reset”
US President Donald Trump, who declared a “national emergency” over the $1.2 trillion US trade deficit, imposed sweeping 145 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods last month. China responded with 125 per cent retaliatory tariffs.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday night (May 10), Trump said the talks had led to “a total reset… in a friendly, but constructive, manner.”
“Many things discussed, much agreed to,” Trump wrote. “We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business. GREAT PROGRESS MADE!!!”
Still, there was no comment from the Chinese government as of Sunday evening, and it remains unclear whether any tariff reductions were agreed.
At the press conference in Geneva, Greer said the speed of the agreement suggests the differences between the two nations may not have been as large as originally assumed.
“It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement,” Greer said, quoted by The Guardian. “Just remember why we’re here… the president declared a national emergency, and we’re confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us work toward resolving that.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed to CNN that a 10 per cent baseline tariff would remain in place on imports, including those from countries with new trade deals.
“Prices are going to stay stable once this policy is done,” Lutnick said. He also dismissed concerns over American job losses, claiming, “This is just a China problem right now.”
The China announcement follows a US-UK trade agreement made public on Thursday, May 8.
What’s your take – has real progress been made between the US and China, or is this just all political bravado?
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