The United States and China agreed on Monday to step back from the brink in their massive tariff war that roiled financial markets and intensified trade tensions.

The two sides agreed to slash import tariffs on each other's goods for 90 days from Wednesday.

The respite follows high-stakes negotiations in Geneva last weekend over US President Donald Trump's so-called reciprocal tariffs, which are meant to ease the US trade imbalance, but caused Beijing to retaliate with similar measures.

Until Monday, China was the sole country that Trump declined to grant a tariff pause.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the tariff cuts at a news conference in Geneva on Monday morning.

Greer said the US would cut its tariffs on Chinese goods from as high as 145% to 30%.

In return, China is to reduce its tariffs on US imports from 125% to 10%.

The lower tariffs will remain in place for 90 days to cool tensions and allow more negotiations to take place.

The two US officials said the talks had yielded "substantial progress"........

© Deutsche Welle