US, China agree to reciprocal tariff cuts on $30bn of goods after Trump-Xi summit

The United States and China have reached an agreement on reciprocal tariff cuts following a summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to multiple sources, the agreement covers goods worth approximately 30 billion dollars, although at least one report cites a figure of up to 60 billion dollars. The deal is intended to ease trade tensions between the world's two largest economies and covers a broad range of products, from agricultural goods and household items to Christmas ornaments, lumber, and even camels, according to a report by Nikkei Asia.

The summit between Trump and Xi took place shortly before the details of the agreement were made public. Images of the arrival of both leaders, along with their wives Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on September 23, 2026, marked the beginning of the diplomatic rapprochement. In the days that followed, both governments gradually released details of the tariff agreement.

According to China's Commerce Ministry, as cited by the Anadolu news agency, tariffs on about 90 percent of the covered products are set to fall to most-favored-nation (MFN) rates. This standard trade principle requires that a country not offer less favorable terms to one trading partner than it does to its most favored partner. Returning to these baseline rates would represent a significant reduction in the additional tariffs imposed during years of trade disputes between the two countries for the majority of the affected goods.

According to reports from Al Jazeera and TRT World, both sides published detailed lists on September 28, 2026, of the products that would be subject to the tariff cuts. China reportedly plans to cut tariffs on US agricultural products, though Geo News notes that certain exceptions would remain in place — the exact scope of these exceptions is not specified in the available sources. On the US side, lists of Chinese import goods eligible for reduced tariffs were also published.

Beyond the tariff cuts themselves, the agreement, according to TRT World, also includes commitments in the areas of trade, agriculture, investment, and cooperation on artificial intelligence. This broader cooperative framework suggests the deal is not merely a one-off tariff adjustment but an attempt to restructure economic relations between the two countries across multiple fronts. However, the available reports do not specify concrete investment figures or the scope of the planned AI cooperation.

Reports differ on the exact trade volume affected by the agreement. While several sources, including Anadolu and TRT World, consistently cite a figure of 30 billion dollars, Geo News reports a figure of 60 billion dollars. This discrepancy may stem from different calculation methods — for instance, whether the figure refers only to US exports to China or to the total bilateral trade volume of the affected product categories. The available material does not allow this question to be resolved conclusively.

The concrete impact of the agreement on specific industries and consumers is not yet fully clear. US agricultural producers, who had previously suffered significantly from Chinese retaliatory tariffs, could benefit from the announced relief, provided their products are not covered by the stated exceptions. Similarly, manufacturers of household goods and seasonal items such as Christmas ornaments on both sides of the Pacific could benefit from lower tariffs.

It remains unclear when the announced tariff cuts will actually take effect and whether further rounds of negotiations will follow to include additional product categories in the agreement. The available reports also do not address the specific mechanisms for monitoring implementation or potential fallback provisions in case of non-compliance. Observers are likely to closely monitor in the coming weeks whether the announced measures are actually implemented as planned and what longer-term effects they will have on bilateral trade and global supply chains.