The United States and China extended their tariff truce for another 90 days, preventing an immediate increase in import duties between the world’s two largest economies. The previous pause had been due to expire at 12:01 a.m. on August 12.
President Donald Trump said on August 11 that he signed an executive order continuing the agreement and leaving its other provisions unchanged. China’s Commerce Ministry announced a matching extension, AP reported. CNN separately confirmed through a White House official that both governments had agreed to delay tariff increases for the additional period.
Without the extension, US tariffs on Chinese imports could have risen from an existing 30%, while Beijing could have increased retaliatory duties on American goods from 10%. Earlier in the dispute, the two sides had imposed rates as high as 145% and 125% respectively before reducing them during talks in Geneva in May. Those levels had threatened to bring much bilateral trade to a halt and contributed to a financial-market sell-off.
The new pause gave negotiators additional time to address disputes over market access, intellectual-property protection, industrial subsidies, fentanyl-related chemicals and access to rare-earth materials. It also left open the possibility of a meeting later in the year between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, though the supplied evidence did not establish that such a summit had been scheduled.
China said it would continue relief for some American companies affected by export-control and unreliable-entity restrictions. Earlier measures had limited certain US companies’ access to dual-use goods or their ability to trade and invest in China.
US businesses welcomed the extension as a source of short-term planning certainty, while major disputes remained unresolved. A June understanding had eased US restrictions on computer-chip technology and ethane and improved American access to Chinese rare-earth supplies, but AP’s reporting said prospects for a broad settlement were uncertain.
The discovery note’s reference to tariffs signed on April 2 is not supported by the extracts and is omitted. What the evidence establishes for August 12 is a coordinated 90-day extension that avoided an imminent tariff surge without ending the wider trade conflict.
