Trump administration announces tariff agreement with China - but people aren’t impressed

US President Donald Trump’s administration has celebrated reaching an agreement with China on tariffs, which came about after the Republican introduced levies on global trade last month as part of ‘Liberation Day’.

That decision was made on 2 April, and a week later, Trump announced a 90-day pause in tariffs for many countries, but not China, which was slapped with additional duties of 125 per cent as part of a tit-for-tat trade war.

But now, rounding off a week which also saw Trump strike a deal with the UK and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the White House announced on Sunday that an agreement had also been reached with China, with Treasury secretary Scott Bessent saying in a statement that “substantial progress” was made in “productive” trade talks held in Geneva.

Trump also praised the “great progress” on social media over the weekend, writing on Truth Social that a “total reset” was negotiated in a “friendly, but constructive, manner”.

However, with the deal with China being struck following tariffs Trump implemented himself – tariffs which also sparked an economic crisis - many social media users aren’t exactly overjoyed:

Former LBC presenter Sangita Myska compared the rhetoric from the Trump administration to “an arsonist celebrating extinguishing the fire he started”:

While podcaster Ed Krassenstein expressed scepticism about the nature of the agreement, writing on Sunday that it “sounds like a deal to make a deal that might not happen”:

Just days before the announcement, Trump was ridiculed for comments made on NBC News' Meet the Press, in which he told interviewer Kristen Walker: "We were losing hundreds of billions of dollars with China. Now we’re essentially not doing business with China.

"“Therefore, we’re saving hundreds of billions of dollars. It’s very simple.”

The US-China agreement also comes amid another scandal for the Trump administration, as the president now faces criticism for planning to accept a “gift” from Qatar of a Boeing 747 to be used as the new Air Force One.

Why not read…

• Trump’s four-word question to aide amid bill signing causes concern
• Trump mocked over remarks which show he ‘knows nothing about trade’

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