The U.S. and China have agreed to reduce tariffs on a subset of each other’s goods, the White House said Saturday.
The announcement, which suggests a de-escalation in the two countries’ trade war, came after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit.
“The two countries reached consensus on recommendations for more favorable tariff treatment for $30 billion of non-sensitive goods in each direction,” reads a White House fact sheet.
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Specifically, the deal applies to U.S. exports of “agricultural goods, fish and seafood, logs and wood products, cosmetics and medical devices” and to imports of “consumer products such as small appliances, toys, holiday decorations, and children’s car seats.”
The fact sheet also says China “will import at least 10 million metric tons of coal from the United States in 2027 and again in 2028.”
Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, said Friday on CNBC, “We want to have some subset of goods that we can trade with the Chinese on a more preferential basis. If we have trade disputes in the future, if there are tariff measures in the future, we just leave those things to the side.”
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the terms.
The White House also announced that “the two countries established the U.S.-China Super Intelligence (SI) Dialogue to exchange views” on the technology.
President Trump, after polling his followers on social media about how to rename artificial intelligence, has committed to calling it super intelligence.
After Mr. Xi’s departure, Mr. Trump wrote on social media that the two leaders would meet again in China in November, as well as in Miami in December for the G20 summit.
Some in the U.S. government have been suspicious of China’s good faith in negotiations.
Sen. Roger Wicker, Mississippi Republican, urged the president ahead of time not to be too friendly with his Chinese counterpart.
“Our commander in chief should keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America,” Mr. Wicker said in a speech on the Senate floor.
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