A TRADE deal between America and China has been agreed, the White House has announced.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said “substantial progress” had been made with his Beijing counterpart during talks in Geneva.
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He said details would be revealed tomorrow, but the breakthrough will raise hopes of ending the tariff war between the world’s two biggest economies.
Donald Trump has hit China with 145 per cent tariffs, leading them to retaliate with import duties of 125 per cent on most US exports.
Mr Bessent said: “I’m happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China.
“We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you the talks were productive.”
Trillions of dollars were wiped off US stock markets last month after the White House confirmed tariffs on China would rocket to 145 per cent.
Investors fled for the hills — fearing further financial turbulence would result from the near-daily ratcheting up of the levies between the two economic superpowers.
The tit-for-tat trade war saw China hike the levies on US goods from 84 per cent to 125 per cent as it hit back at the US President’s tariffs.
President Xi Jinping branded Trump’s tactics “unilateral acts of bullying”.
A spokesman for China’s commerce ministry said the US tariff policy would “go down as a joke in the history of world economics”.
But after all the chaos, the White House last night said Donald Trump was “optimistic” of striking a deal with China.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that the President was open to a deal with China.
She claimed that he “negotiates a deal better than anyone else who has sat before him”.
Ms Leavitt said the “phone has been ringing off the hook” from 75 countries looking to cut trade deals and already had 15 offers on the table.
It comes just days after the US revealed a “full and comprehensive” trade deal with Britain.
Trump used a press conference in the Oval Office to announce the “first” agreement with the UK after his global tariff blitz.
On a televised live phone call with Sir Keir Starmer, he hailed it as ” a great deal for both countries”.
The agreement will slash tariffs on Britain’s car exports to America from 27.5 per cent to 10 per cent.
And steel tariffs will be reduced from 25 per cent to zero in a boost for the export market.
But the baseline 10 per cent tariffs on all other goods imposed by Mr Trump on last month’s “Liberation Day” still remain.
And Britain appears to have cut typical tariffs on US imports from 5.1 per cent to 1.8 per cent.
Mr Trump said bolstering trade “always a big part of your decision on Brexit” while personally lavishing praise on the “terrific” UK PM.
The President also highlighted how it is a “special day” because it is 80 years since Victory in Europe Day.
“Today’s agreement with the UK is the first in a series of agreements on trade that my administration has been negotiating over the past four weeks,” he said.
What is in the US-UK trade deal?
DONALD Trump and Sir Keir Starmer have signed a trade deal – here are the details.
CARS: Tariffs on British-made cars being sold in the United States will be slashed from 27.5% to 10%. It will apply to a quota of 100,000 vehicles and save a company like Jaguar Land Rover hundreds of millions of pounds.
STEEL: Tariffs on steel and aluminium exports into the United States will be slashed from 25 per cent down to zero.
BEEF: A “reciprocal” tariff-free deal has been made for 13,000 tonnes of beef, making it cheaper for export the meat across both countries. Britain insists it has not weakened food standards, which it has said was a red line.
ETHANOL: Tariffs on imports of American ethanol have been reduced to zero
OTHER GOODS: Other British goods are still subject to the baseline 10% tariff announced by Mr Trump on “liberation day”. Whereas the US are claiming the UK has reduced its tariffs on America from 5.1% to 1.8%
“With this deal, the UK joins the United States in affirming that reciprocity and fairness is an essential and vital principle of international trade.”
The US President also suggested the UK will be “fast-tracking American goods through their customs process”, he said, and “there won’t be any red tape”.
He added: “The deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture, dramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol, and virtually all the products produced by our great farmers.”
He praised the UK as “one of the greatest” allies of the States and said the country “is right at the top – they’re the first one we’re talking about”.
The US President said he wants to “thank Prime Minister Starmer”, calling him “terrific” and saying the two countries have a “great relationship”.
The UK has been seeking to lower tariffs ever since Trump imposed the punishing levies of 10 per cent on all imports to the US from Britain.
It will be a framework for mitigating some of the tariffs, which will pave the way for a “substantive” step towards a deal.