China is slicing tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. products, China's government news agencies report, in a move that reciprocates for the Trump administration's plan to halve tariffs on Chinese products worth about $112 billion. The U.S. announced its tariff reduction last month.
The two sides' tariff cuts are slated to take effect on Feb. 14, in the latest sign that a trade war between the world's largest economies is easing.
China will drop tariffs on some U.S. goods from 10% to 5%; other tariffs will fall from 5% to 2.5%, according to China Daily.
The shift comes three weeks after President Trump signed what the White House calls "Phase 1" of a trade truce with China, in which he agreed to reduce some of the tariffs the U.S. has imposed on Chinese goods.
The partial truce also calls for China to buy more U.S. goods and services – at a rate of $200 billion over the next two years, compared to 2017 trade levels.
China had raised the tariffs in September, when President Trump's tariffs on more than $100 billion of Chinese imports took effect. But since then, both sides have canceled or reduced tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of products.
"To ease economic and trade tensions and expand cooperation, the Chinese side decided to adjust related measures accordingly," an unidentified official from China's Ministry of Finance said Thursday, according to state-run news outlets.
The official added, "It is our hope that both sides will work together toward ultimately removing all additional tariffs."
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