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Donald Trump has extended a trade war truce with China for another 90 days, two US officials have said, just hours before his Tuesday deadline to steepen tariffs on the world’s biggest exporter.
The US president’s move was widely expected because his government has been reluctant to reignite the fierce trade conflict with Beijing that rattled markets in April when US levies on Chinese imports rose up to 145 per cent.
In May, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent negotiated a settlement with senior Chinese officials in Geneva, Switzerland, to bring down the tariffs and pause a deepening trade war. After another round of talks in Sweden last month, he said Trump would decide a further extension to the truce before the August 12 deadline.
Trump on Monday said Beijing was “dealing nicely” on trade, but did not say which way he has leaning on the issue of an extension.
The US has been open to easing some export restrictions on semiconductors, a key demand from China, and raised the possibility of a summit between Trump and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, though no agreement has been reached on such a meeting.
The Financial Times revealed Trump was now allowing Nvidia and AMD to export more advanced chips to China in exchange for a fee, in a move that sparked alarm among some national security hawks in his government.
The relative respite in economic relations between the two countries comes as Trump has struck some agreements to lower tariffs with large trading partners, including the EU and Japan, but hit others such as India and Brazil with high levies after failing to reach deals with them.
The president also on Monday announced he would not be imposing tariffs on gold, days after a ruling from the US customs agency outlining the administration’s planned duties on bullion roiled markets.
Even with the truce, Trump is still imposing an extra 30 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports, on top of levies that were in place when he took office for his second term. Economists have warned the levies on the US’s third-biggest trading partner still risk pushing up inflation and slowing economic growth.
The extension of the truce was first reported by CNBC. China’s US embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
