China suspends for one year an additional tariff on US products.

BarcelonaChina announced Wednesday that it is suspending for one year the 24% "additional tariff" it had imposed on goods imported from the United States, a decision that falls within the framework of the trade agreements reached last week by the presidents of both countries, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. In this regard, the Chinese government's tariff commission stated in a press release that the suspension of the tariff aims to "implement the results and consensus reached in the economic and trade consultations between China and the United States." The measure will take effect on November 10, and until then, an additional 10% tariff will remain in place on certain US products entering Chinese territory, although Beijing did not specify which ones.

The temporarily suspended trade tariff was one of the "reciprocal tariffs" approved by Xi Jinping's government last March in response to new tariffs imposed by Washington on Chinese exports to the US. With the latest meeting last week in Busan, South Korea, between the presidents of both countries, the trade tensions initiated by Trump upon his return to the White House have eased.

In fact, the measure approved by Beijing coincides with a 10-percentage-point reduction, to 47%, in the average tariffs imposed by the US administration on Chinese goods. Furthermore, as part of the talks culminating in the meeting between the two leaders, the Chinese government committed to suspending additional tariffs on US energy and agricultural products, including 15% tariffs on food, which will also be eliminated starting November 10.

Nine months of trade war

China and its enormous trade surplus with the US has been a cornerstone of Trump's electoral campaigns, both in his victories in the 2016 and 2014 presidential elections and in his defeat in 2020. Even in his first term, the current US president escalated his rhetoric against Beijing, which led to a series of tariff barriers that his predecessor, Joe Biden, largely left unchanged. With his return to the presidency this January, however, Trump has further increased trade pressure on China, as well as on other countries and territories traditionally allied with the US, such as the European Union, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Mexico. Among the new restrictions, Washington and Beijing have introduced tariffs on strategic products such as microchips, minerals, maritime services, electric cars, solar panels, and energy products.