China and US agree major tariff cuts

中美同意大幅削减关税

Newshour

新闻

2025-05-12

48 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

China and the United States have agreed to major tariff cuts during talks in Geneva. US tariffs on most Chinese goods will drop to 30%, while China will charge US products 10%. We hear from economist Alicia Garcia Herrero. Also in the programme: Kurdish militants PKK to disarm; Afrikaner refugees arrive in the US. (Picture: US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference after two days of closed-door discussions on trade between the United States and China, in Geneva, Switzerland. Credit: Photo by EPA)
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service.

  • I'm Celia Hatton and I'm coming to you live from our studio in central London.

  • Today's edition of NewsHour begins with what could be described as a temporary trade truce between two countries.

  • But for many of us,

  • the announcement today that the US and China are ratcheting down the import taxes they've slapped on each other's goods,

  • if only for 90 days, will lead to a sigh of relief.

  • That's

  • because the vitality of trade between the world's two largest economies has a huge knock-on effect on companies and consumers in many other places too.

  • Speaking at a news conference, the U.S.

  • Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said that Beijing and Washington had agreed the trade war between them was counterproductive.

  • The consensus from both delegations this weekend is neither side.

  • wants a decoupling.

  • And what had occurred with these very high tariffs was the equivalent of an embargo.

  • And neither side wants that.

  • We do want trade.

  • We want more balanced trade.

  • And I think that both sides are committed to achieving that.

  • But the deal they've agreed is far from clear.

  • After the talks wrapped up in Switzerland,

  • a reporter at the press conference for the U.S. team aimed this question at the U.S. trade representative,