Quotes
This move is significant primarily because it reflects a strategic retreat by the US, rather than a genuine shift in the broader trajectory of US-China relations,
Carlos Lopes, a Chatham House associate fellow for the Africa Programme, told Al Jazeera
The reversal is a recognition of domestic economic pressures,
Lopes saidFentanyl was part of the public discourse but not a fundamental driver of the tariff decision. It served more as a symbolic issue for political messaging, particularly to domestic audiences. The core dynamics at play here are structural – supply chain interdependence, inflationary concerns, and electoral calculations – not drug policy,
the Chatham House analyst saidThe US economy, despite its scale, cannot isolate itself from global supply chains without serious collateral damage. Moreover, President Trump thrives on projecting strength through negotiation – but bargaining without structure or a clear endgame eventually reveals weakness. The rollback reflects this internal contradiction,
he saidThis shows that China's firm countermeasures and resolute posture had a strong impact, and that these actions indeed caused significant pressure on the U.S. side—leading the American government to lower tariffs back down to the base level,
Song Guoyou, executive director of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation and Governance Research Center at Shanghai's Fudan University, was quoted as saying
Tariff wars and trade wars produce no winners. Bullying and coercion only lead to isolation."
Xi Jinping, Chinese president, told Latin American and Caribbean officials Tuesday during a Beijing summitThis is a positive development, but the devil is in the details on where the talks go from here,
Majerus said
The jury's still out, and we won't be able for some time to look back and say this was a successful strategy,
said Greta Peisch, a former senior trade official under President Joe Biden who is now a partner in the Wiley Rein law firmYou're up against China's whole theory of its economic policy and how it is operating in the world,
she saidWhether you agree or disagree with the tactic, at least Trump is thinking outside the box,
Shaw saidWhat we really need is more consistency. U.S. companies need to be able to plan instead of scramble to reroute supply chains, which can be difficult to do quickly. And American families are quite spooked by the impact these and other tariffs are going to have on their pocketbook,
she said.jpg)
We will never yield … We’ll fight until we completely triumph
Mao declares in the clip
Predictability is a terrible thing.”
As Trump’s special presidential envoy Ric Grenell recently put itWe are not afraid of provocations. We don’t back down,
the Chinese foreign affairs ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, declared recently on X
I still expect an increase in prices and a slowdown in the economy,
Kugler warned,
Obviously that's an improvement as far as trade between the two countries
Kugler saidStill, they appear likely to generate significant economic effects even if tariffs stay close to the currently announced levels,
she addedThe rules of the game are still uncertain,
said Diego Marroquin Bitar, an expert on North American trade who also works as a consultantIf Vietnam manages to strike a better deal than China - which is more than likely after today - it will present itself as an attractive alternative to China in regional investment strategies,
said Leif Schneider, head of international law firm Luther in VietnamThis was already the outcome of the 'First Trade War' introduced by the first Trump administration,
he added