President Donald Trump made an extraordinary concession in his landmark deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping Thursday: In exchange for promises that China will crack down on fentanyl, the United States will shave 10% off the tariffs it charges on Chinese goods.
On the surface, it’s a promising deal that could restore some of the trade that tariffs had stymied between the world’s two largest economies. The reduction will bring the minimum tariff on Chinese imports down to 20%, and the average tariff rate will fall to around 47%. That’s lofty compared to many other US trading partners but still more in line with the rest of the world.
It could give some relief to US consumers, and it means Chinese goods can shed the outcast status in the United States that Trump’s high tariffs had imposed on them.
But the tariff reduction is also a significant gamble for the Trump administration, which has encountered a persistent problem in its unprecedented trade war with China: Trump has been bested by Xi in the trade war at every turn.
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