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The United States and China have put forward lists of products that could receive lower tariffs, following a summit between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping. The announcement, made on Sunday, marks the first detailed follow-through on an agreement the two leaders reached to work toward reducing duties on roughly $60bn in two-way trade. Under the arrangement, each country would cover about $30bn of the other's imports.
The Chinese side identified 77 goods for possible more favorable treatment. They include household items such as microwave ovens and weighing scales, along with fish hooks and artificial flowers. Washington's list is far longer, naming more than 1,600 American products for consideration. Among the US exports flagged for lower Chinese duties are poultry, dairy products, noodles, eggs, peanuts, canned tomatoes, pure-breed breeding horses, and silk.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the deal would open the Chinese market to roughly 30 percent of American exports and deliver benefits to consumers at home. In a statement, Greer said the administration would keep pressing for "fair, balanced, and reciprocal trade with China" by enforcing commitments on agricultural and energy purchases, pursuing balanced trade in non-sensitive goods, and securing market access for farmers, manufacturers, businesses, and workers.
China's Ministry of Commerce confirmed the list on Monday, shortly after the White House made its announcement. The ministry said the two sides would discuss a "reciprocal tariff reduction framework of $30 billion for $30 billion, aiming to reach a consensus." It described the arrangement as a way to stabilize China-US trade, improve conditions for Chinese exports to the US, meet domestic demand, and deepen cooperation in agricultural products, energy, manufactured goods, and consumer goods.
The product lists emerged after a summit that was heavy on pomp and ceremony but produced few firm announcements on the many disputes dividing the world's two largest economies. Those divisions extend well beyond trade to include artificial intelligence and Taiwan. Talks between Trump and Xi wrapped up on Friday without a breakthrough on those broader issues.
The two presidents have now held three face-to-face summits since last October. More meetings are expected in the coming months. Trump and Xi are due to meet again at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in November, and at the Group of 20 gathering in Miami, Florida, in December.
Trade between the US and China has fallen sharply since Trump returned to the White House in January last year. A long-standing critic of free trade policies, Trump has reshaped the relationship between the two economies. According to the US Trade Representative, two-way trade totaled $495bn in 2025, a 25 percent drop from the previous year. That decline underscores how far commerce between the two countries has contracted.
Despite the scope of the new lists, trade experts caution against reading them as a turning point. Deborah Elms, head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation in Singapore, said the announcement did not signal a major shift in US-China trade. She noted that both sides have largely selected goods that do not significantly affect overall trade flows.
Elms said the measures could bring down some prices for US consumers, but that none of the products is likely to make a dramatic difference to inflation figures or provide meaningful relief to most American buyers. She said the same is broadly true of the Chinese list. Although it contains many different agricultural products, most are not actually exported to China, or are not shipped in meaningful quantities.
The limited economic impact reflects the delicate politics of the relationship. Washington wants to show progress on market access for its farmers and manufacturers without appearing to retreat from its broader tariff strategy. Beijing, for its part, wants to stabilize trade with its largest export market while retaining leverage in ongoing negotiations over technology, security, and industrial policy.
The lists also leave key questions unresolved. It is not yet clear when the proposed tariff cuts would take effect, how they would be implemented, or whether they would survive future rounds of talks. The two governments described the lists as recommendations, suggesting further negotiation lies ahead before any duties are actually lowered.
Even so, the announcement gives both sides a framework to build on. The $30bn-for-$30bn formula offers a symmetrical structure that avoids the appearance of one-sided concessions. It also creates a channel for sector-by-sector bargaining in areas such as agriculture, energy, and consumer goods, where both economies have clear interests.
For US farmers and food producers, the inclusion of poultry, dairy, eggs, peanuts, and canned tomatoes is a welcome signal after years of strained access to Chinese buyers. For Chinese exporters, the prospect of relief on microwave ovens, scales, and other household goods could ease pressure on manufacturers who have faced higher US duties.
Still, the modest scale of the lists relative to the hundreds of billions of dollars in annual two-way trade suggests both capitals are proceeding cautiously. The agreement reached at the summit was framed as a step toward lowering tariffs on $60bn of trade, a fraction of the $495bn total recorded in 2025. That gap helps explain why analysts like Elms see the move as incremental rather than transformative.
The coming APEC and G20 meetings will test whether the two sides can convert the lists into concrete tariff reductions and whether their broader rivalry can be managed without further disruption to global commerce. For now, the announcement stands as a small, carefully calibrated sign that Washington and Beijing are still willing to talk trade even as they compete on technology, security, and influence.
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