U.S. and China call a trade truce, for now

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 954 Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

The U.S. and China have agreed to a ceasefire in a trade war that has rippled across the global economy, with both nations slashing tariffs for the next 90 days as trade negotiations continue. Cornell University's Eswar Prasad explains more. And, President Trump will soon visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Jon Gambrell, Gulf and Iran news director for the Associated Press, shares a view from the region. Then, Qatar has proposed a deal to gift the Trump administration a new jumbo jet to serve as Air Force One. Don Fox, former acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, explains the ethical concerns.

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at MathWorks.com.
0:17.5	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:22.7	We achieved a total reset with China after productive talks in Geneva.
0:30.0	Both sides now agree to reduce the tariffs imposed after April 2nd to 10% for 90 days as negotiators continue in the largest structural issues.
0:42.0	Those cooler heads we've been hearing so much about, seems like they might have gotten around to prevailing after all.
1:02.1	It's Monday, May 12th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WVR.
1:03.2	I'm Chris Bentley.
1:19.2	Today on the show, President Trump is off to the Middle East, visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, what the wealthy Gulf states have to offer the U.S. and the Trump organization.
1:27.5	Also, one former government ethics advisor shares his concerns about one thing the administration might be getting out of the state visit.
1:33.9	Qatar is offering to gift the president a new Boeing 747 via the Department of Defense,
1:38.0	but which would belong to Trump's presidential library after he's left office.
1:39.5	It's completely unprecedented.
1:44.8	The only thing that I can think of in our history would be the gift of the Statue of Liberty from France.
1:46.0	We'll get to that in about 15 minutes.
1:52.0	But first, the White House is touting what it calls an historic trade win for the United States.
1:59.2	After the U.S. and China agreed to put their trade war on ice for
2:03.3	90 days, during that period, the U.S. is dialing back tariffs on China to 30 percent, down from
2:10.0	145 percent. China is reducing its tariffs on the U.S. as well. But the trade war is not over. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
2:19.8	told CNBC, there's lots more to discuss. I would imagine that in the next few weeks, we will be
2:26.6	meeting again to get rolling on a more fulsome agreement. So what exactly did the U.S.
2:33.1	get from all those tariff threats?
	...

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