The deal was struck at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.
Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping agreed a truce in the burgeoning US-China trade war at the G20 in Argentina Sunday, deciding against fresh tariffs on imports which have led to economic impact and protests by business leaders in both nations.
The White House later announced that China had agreed to hold off on placing tariffs on US-made cars, among other commitments.
“My meeting in Argentina with President Xi of China was an extraordinary one,” Trump would tweet Monday. “Relations with China have taken a BIG leap forward! Very good things will happen.”
The US and China have been engaged in a de facto trade war since July when Trump began to place billions of dollars tariffs on key Chinese imports as a result of his “America First” policy, ostensibly designed to protect US manufacturing firms and workers from job losses.
Under the deal, the US has reportedly agreed not to raise further tariffs against China on Jan. 1, as originally planned, while China agreed to purchase more agricultural products from US farmers immediately.
The two countries also agreed to negotiate over the next 90 days to resolve concerns raised by the US on issues such as intellectual property protection, non-tariff trade barriers, and cyber theft.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday there was a clear shift in tone from past discussions with Chinese officials.
“This is the first time that we have a commitment from them that this will be a real agreement,” Mnuchin told CNBC, adding the administration would know “very quickly” whether a more formal deal can be achieved.
“We absolutely need something concrete over these 90 days,” he said. “This is not going to be something where there’s just soft commitments that get kicked down the road.”
The so-called truce boosted global markets Monday with world stocks up nearly 1 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.94 percent at the open and the S&P 500 by 1.10 percent.
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