China recently announced a 90-day suspension of tariff hikes on $126 billion of US cars, trucks and auto parts following its ceasefire in a trade battle with Washington that threatens global economic growth. The suspension is China's first step in response to President Donald Trump's December 1 agreement to suspend US tariff hikes for a similar 90-day period while the two sides negotiate over American complaints about Beijing's technology policy and trade surplus. China has indicated its plans to move ahead with the talks despite strains over the arrest of a Chinese technology executive in Canada to face possible US charges related to a violation of trade sanctions against Iran. Beijing will suspend a 25 per cent import charge on $66 billion of cars and trucks and a 5 per cent charge on $60 billion of auto parts, effective January 1, the Finance Ministry said. The announcement helped give substance to Trump's agreement with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, after prolonged uncertainty caused jittery global financial markets to swing wildly. The Chinese penalties were imposed in response to Trump's decision to slap 25 per cent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods and a 10 per cent charge on another $200 billion. The tariff cut lowers the charge for US-made cars and trucks to 15 per cent, the same level as imports from other countries.
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