The United States and China have signed a “trade deal” after a more than month-long trade war between the world’s two largest economies, the White House has said.
The pair had been negotiating in Geneva, Switzerland, for two days – and on Sunday afternoon, a statement from Donald Trump’s office said that a “deal” had been struck.
American trade representative Jamieson Greer called the talks “very constructive” and said the deal would help the US work towards resolving a “national emergency”.
“Just remember why we’re here in the first place,” Greer said. “The United States has a massive $1.2trillion trade deficit, so the President declared a national emergency and imposed tariffs, and we’re confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to work toward resolving that national emergency”.
But his statement – alongside one from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent – has raised eyebrows after not including any details of the deal.
A “complete briefing” will follow tomorrow morning, Bessent said.
And the Treasury chief himself – despite the White House statement being titled “US Announces China Trade Deal in Geneva” – did not refer to a “deal”.
He had said: “I’m happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks.”
“We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive,” he added.
Bessent continued: “I spoke to President Trump, as did Ambassador Jamieson, last night, and he is fully informed of what is going on.”