Tariff negotiations between the U.S. and China begin in Malaysia.

Initial Steps for Tariff Negotiations

According to Xinhua, China's Vice Premier for Economic Relations He Lifeng held a video conference this morning with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

During this meeting, the parties reached an agreement on the earliest possible start of a new round of economic and trade consultations between the U.S. and China. While no date or location details were provided by China, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent announced that the negotiations would take place next week in Malaysia.

Process Leading to Tariff Escalation

The trade conflict between the two countries escalated with the increased tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump following his return to office early this year. On April 2, Trump began applying additional tariffs on many trade partners, including China. China's response turned this situation into a tariff escalation between the two countries.

As a result, the U.S. raised the tariff applied to China to 145%, while China raised the tariff applied to the U.S. to 125%. In the negotiations held in Geneva on May 10-11, the two countries decided to mutually reduce tariffs by 90% to resolve trade tensions.

As a result of the negotiations, as of May 14, the U.S. reduced the tariff on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%, while China reduced the tariff on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%. Subsequently, new agreements were reached in the negotiations held in London on June 9-10.

During the third round of negotiations held on July 28-29, the duration of the temporary agreement was extended for another 90 days starting from August 12. Finally, in the meetings in Madrid on September 14-15, the parties agreed to meet again before the expiration of the temporary agreement on November 10.