On June 26, US President Donald Trump stated that the world's two leading economies - the United States and China - have completed signing a trade agreement within the past two weeks. Speaking at the White House, Trump briefly said "signed with China" but did not share specific details of the document.
This information raised expectations that Washington and Beijing are moving towards restarting previously negotiated terms that had been stalled due to various disagreements. According to a White House source, the newly signed agreement is considered a supplement aimed at effectively implementing contents previously reached within the Geneva framework. Some experts also believe that this agreement primarily aims to formalize previously agreed terms that had not been officially recorded.
The Geneva agreement was known as the foundation for both countries to mutually reduce tariffs on each other's goods within a 90-day period, while creating conditions to continue negotiations on a more comprehensive trade agreement. However, this process encountered numerous obstacles, especially due to disputes over rare earth exports from China and export control measures from the US.
To break the deadlock, in early June, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent led a high-level delegation including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to London. There, they had an important meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. After two days of negotiations, both sides confirmed reaching a consensus, though specific details were not disclosed.
Also on June 26, Mr. Lutnick stated that the agreement related to Geneva has been finalized and signed. He also revealed that the United States is promoting the signing of additional trade agreements with 10 other important economic partners to expand bilateral cooperation before the critical date of July 9.
July 9 is considered an important milestone, when the retaliatory tariffs announced by the US in April will temporarily expire. During this transition period, tariffs have been reduced to 10% for 90 days to create negotiation space with the relevant countries.
