China said on Wednesday it would extend a suspension of additional tariffs on U.S. goods for one year, making official an agreement reached in talks between presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump last week.
The two leaders held talks in South Korea at the end of October that effectively prolonged a delicate truce for a year, after several rounds of trade negotiations in recent months.
A statement published Wednesday on the Ministry of Finance website, citing Beijing's State Council, said that "for one year the 24% tariff on U.S. goods will continue to be suspended, (and) a 10% tariff on U.S. goods will remain".
The statement said the pause follows "the consensus reached in the China-U.S. economic and trade consultations" and would be effective from Nov. 10.
Trump on Tuesday formalized an agreement that Washington would cut its additional tariffs on Chinese imports from 20% to 10%, also effective from Nov. 10.
Temperatures have spiked between the world's two biggest economies this year as Washington and Beijing imposed escalating tariffs on each other's products.
At one point, duties on both sides reached prohibitive triple-digit levels, hampering trade.
The two have been engaged in an uneasy truce since, as top economic leaders met several times for talks in recent months, with tensions surging over export controls and other issues.
Beyond the statement covering the blanket tariffs, China also published several statements on Wednesday suspending related measures hitting different sectors.
In one of them, China said it would "cease implementing the additional tariff measures" imposed in a March order hitting a list of American farm products.
That move was a response to Trump doubling additional tariffs on Chinese goods over Beijing's handling of fentanyl - now back to 10% starting next week.
Beijing had placed an additional 15% levy on chicken, wheat, corn and cotton imported from the U.S. and an additional 10% tariff on American soybeans, pork, beef, dairy and other farm products.
That had hurt a key source of Trump's political support: farmers.
More than half of U.S. soybean exports went to China last year, but Beijing halted all orders as the trade dispute deepened.
In a sign of thawing ties, Chinese vice commerce minister and key negotiator Li Chenggang hailed "important" agricultural trade links between the countries during a Tuesday meeting in Beijing with representatives from the U.S. farming sector.
"It is hoped the United States can work with China, look at the big picture, create favorable atmosphere for pragmatic cooperation on agriculture and other areas," Li said at the meeting, according to a Wednesday statement by China's commerce ministry.
Beijing's commerce ministry also announced Wednesday that it would extend suspensions to export control measures on U.S. entities that had been implemented during the tit-for-tat escalation with Washington earlier in the year.
In another statement, the ministry said that restrictions would continue to be suspended for dozens of U.S. defense and aerospace firms.
Those measures had been aimed at limiting U.S. access to "dual use" items that could be used for both civilian and military purposes.
Also following talks, Beijing agreed to halt for one-year restrictions on the export of rare earths technology.
Rare earths are a strategic field dominated by China and are essential for manufacturing in defense, automobiles and consumer electronics.
Washington in turn agreed to suspend for one year a move imposing "Entity List" export restrictions on affiliates of blacklisted foreign companies in which they had at least a 50% stake, the Chinese commerce ministry said.
The United States also said it would halt for a year measures targeting China's shipbuilding industry that led to both sides applying port fees against each other's ships, it said.
In turn, China would suspend its "countermeasures" after the U.S. action, they added, for one year too.
