White House announces U.S.-China trade deal, rarely providing details

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified at a hearing on the House Financial Services Committee titled “Annual Testimony of the Secretary of the Treasury in the International Financial System”, Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., District of Columbia, U.S. May 7, 2025.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

The White House announced a "trade agreement" with China on Sunday after Trump administration officials negotiated with their Chinese counterparts over the weekend.

Although details of the deal are unclear, any reduction in the ongoing trade war could bring much-needed relief to the global economy, which has been on the rise since the April 2 tariff announcement by Donald Trump.

Finance Minister Scott Bessent said Sunday that the trading conference held in Geneva over the weekend was "productive".

He said the negotiations generated “a lot of” productivity and he would provide more details in the full briefing Monday morning.

Bessent also said he and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer both spoke with President Donald Trump on Saturday night and "completely got to know him" the discussion.

In his speech on Sunday, Greer said officials had reached some form of "deal" but provided no details. He called the discussion “very constructive.”

"It's important to understand how quickly we can reach consensus, which reflects that the difference may not be as large as I think," Greer said.

"We are confident that the deal we have with our Chinese partners will help us work to resolve national emergencies," he added.

The Chinese officials who attended the meeting also spoke very actively.

In his life, the Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China said that the meeting "has made significant progress and reached important consensus."

"The two sides agreed to establish an advisory mechanism for trade and economic issues," Lifefeng said.

China's International Trade Representative Li Chenggang suggested a statement would be issued soon and more details about the negotiations were provided, but did not say when the statement would be issued.

"As we said in China, if these dishes are delicious, then time is not a problem," Chenggang said.

"I think it's big news whenever that statement is issued. It's good news for the world."

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The high-stakes negotiations held in Switzerland this weekend are amid widespread economic uncertainty arising from the U.S.-China trade war.

The two countries have been involved in tax laws in the weeks since Trump announced a 145% tariff on Beijing. In response, China raised its tax on U.S. goods to 125%.

The deadlock has aroused financial markets and attracted less attention to consumer prices.

Trump praised the first day of the discussion and wrote that U.S. officials held a "good meeting with China today" in their Truth Social Post Saturday.

"A lot of things were discussed and very much agreed," Trump wrote. "The overall reset was done in a friendly but constructive way."

Bessent said he and Greer met with China's deputy prime minister in addition to two deputy ministers.