Focus now on this announcement about the tariff pause, what's behind it, and where things go in the weeks ahead.

Derek Scissors closely follows the Chinese economy and U.S. China relations.

He's a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

That's a conservative think tank.

Thanks for being back with us.

It was really striking to see the Treasury Secretary acknowledge that the tariffs, as he put it,

resulted in an embargo on both sides. It effectively ended trade between the U.S. and China.

How significant is this 90-day pause? What's the real world impact?

Well, the pause is significant. How we got here is a little strange, but we were looking at shortages. Secretary Bessent was right about that. This was effective embargo on a lot of goods. You can transship goods through other countries. We were making some exclusions. The Chinese were making some exclusions, but a lot of goods were just not going to appear. So there were going

to be shortages for American firms and American consumers starting later this month. And with the

pause, you're going to get some resumption at least of trade. And so those shortages should be

quick. And that's what President Trump wanted. How did China find its way to this short-term deal or the U.S. for that matter?

What drove both countries back to the negotiating table?

Well, I think they have two different timelines. The U.S. is very concerned about the short-term.

President Trump did not want to take the political and economic hit of an actual trade

conflict.

He talks about it all the time.

He says, you know, other countries are ripping us off.

I have to do this.

But as soon as, you know, actual costs reared their head, he backed off.

The Chinese have a long-term risk.

They impose a lot of costs on their own people all the time. They're not too

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