Last month, when President Donald Trump drastically raised tariffs on Chinese goods, New York City retailer Morris Dweck had to respond quickly, canceling or holding 140 containers worth the value of the winter season over a six-month period.

That put his suppliers in trouble and left thousands of artificial Christmas trees.

On Monday, just hours after Trump returned to some of the most radical plans, Mr. Dweck resumed contact with suppliers and continued freight.

Like other business owners, he felt relieved as the United States and China announced on Monday that they would withdraw most tariffs announced in recent weeks, which has put trade between the two countries into conflict and raised huge damage to the economic losses.

The U.S. said that this will reduce the new responsibility from 145% penalty to 30%.

China also agreed to reduce its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products to 10%, and promised unspecified changes to other trade barriers.

These changes happened to catch up with Mr. Dweck of Dii, who owns DII, a chain of 19 discount stores in the New York area and has made many merchandise in China. He rushed onto the goods earlier this year and packed his warehouse with enough merchandise until mid-October.

But during the holidays in November and December, a 145% tariff was shocked - the price was too high to be swallowed up by the company or transferred to customers.

"If you told us...even 30% of three months ago, we would say it's crazy, it's crazy, we'll never survive," he said. But now it feels like good news.

"It gave me a sigh of relief. Although it was very dramatic, the business could continue."

By the end of last weekend, trade between the United States and China – the third largest importer in the U.S. last year, and a major source of essentials such as car seats and umbrellas – dropped sharply.

According to Vizion, plans to drop about 60% in the U.S. ports in China fell by about 60% in a year.

As surveys on business and consumer confidence plummeted, U.S. analysts are marking the chances of a recession.

But with the trade armistice, hopefully, the most significant losses can be avoided now.

In comments from clients published after the announcement, companies including Oxford Economics and Goldman Sachs said the chances of a recession in the United States have decreased this year.

While tariffs may still push up American prices to some extent in the coming months, the U.S. is likely to avoid a sharp drop in spending and business activity, which seems likely to trigger a 145% tariff, said Ben May, director of economics.

Mr Dewick said he hopes his business can manage 30% of the tariffs.

He has negotiated kickbacks with many suppliers and plans to pay some fees from the profit margin. He also expects to raise prices, although how much remains to be seen given tariffs and the wider economic uncertainty.

Although he would usually have the supplier put prices on the box, he now plans to take on it himself once the goods arrive, even if the efficiency is reduced.

The current tariff rate is still high enough that he believes next year's orders are suppliers in other countries.

He will also push suppliers to deliver goods by August, fearing that tensions may erupt again.

"From now to now, anything can happen."

Chinese companies also said they remain worried about the future.

Trump said he is still urging China to "open" its economy for U.S. companies, warning that tariffs could rise again if negotiations between the two countries do not make progress in the next 90 days - albeit no more than 145%.

Tat Kei, an exporter of personal care equipment in China, hired 200 factories to the United States, his company said his company welcomed it and began moving some of the goods trapped in its warehouses.

But he said the company had little confidence that the current rules would be followed - and feared that tensions would erupt again.

“It’s a big problem from a planning and investment perspective,” he said.

“Now, things will actually stabilize in the long run, and that confidence is very low.”