Author of How to Prep When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
It looks like we’ll get a temporary reprieve of three months as the United States and China have come to an agreement about the tariffs and put them on hold briefly. Tariffs will be reduced from 140% to 30% sometime this week in a deal slated to last for 90 days.
A joint statement was released by both governments on X.
The Government of the United States of America (the “United States”) and the Government of the People’s Republic of China (“China”),
Recognizing the importance of their bilateral economic and trade relationship to both countries and the global economy;
Recognizing the importance of a sustainable, long-term, and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship;
Reflecting on their recent discussions and believing that continued discussions have the potential to address the concerns of each side in their economic and trade relationship; and
Moving forward in the spirit of mutual opening, continued communication, cooperation, and mutual respect;
The Parties commit to take the following actions by May 14, 2025:
The United States will (i) modify the application of the additional ad valorem rate of duty on articles of China (including articles of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macau Special Administrative Region) set forth in Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025, by suspending 24 percentage points of that rate for an initial period of 90 days, while retaining the remaining ad valorem rate of 10 percent on those articles pursuant to the terms of said Order; and (ii) removing the modified additional ad valorem rates of duty on those articles imposed by Executive Order 14259 of April 8, 2025 and Executive Order 14266 of April 9, 2025.
China will (i) modify accordingly the application of the additional ad valorem rate of duty on articles of the United States set forth in Announcement of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council No. 4 of 2025, by suspending 24 percentage points of that rate for an initial period of 90 days, while retaining the remaining additional ad valorem rate of 10 percent on those articles, and removing the modified additional ad valorem rates of duty on those articles imposed by Announcement of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council No. 5 of 2025 and Announcement of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council No. 6 of 2025; and (ii) adopt all necessary administrative measures to suspend or remove the non-tariff countermeasures taken against the United States since April 2, 2025.
After taking the aforementioned actions, the Parties will establish a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations. The representative from the Chinese side for these discussions will be He Lifeng, Vice Premier of the State Council, and the representatives from the U.S. side will be Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, and Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative. These discussions may be conducted alternately in China and the United States, or a third country upon agreement of the Parties. As required, the two sides may conduct working-level consultations on relevant economic and trade issues
Please note that not all the details of this agreement have been released. There could still be unpleasant surprises in store for us during this period.
How long will it last?
The agreement is currently scheduled to last 90 days while further talks ensue. But relations between the United States and China have been quite volatile, so consider every day that this agreement holds to be a bonus.
In my opinion, it would be a mistake to breathe a sigh of relief and think that this fixes everything. Instead, I strongly suggest you use this time as your early warning and get prepared for what happens after 90 days. Even without tariffs, our costs in the United States right now are sky high.
Please note that we will still face at least a temporary period of scarcity. Due to the pending tariffs, as I wrote here, China had all but halted their exports to the United States. So, while we have a reprieve, we haven’t completely dodged this bullet.
What should you do next?
Prepping when you’re broke is hard, but we can help. Get my very best advice on the subject here.
Spend the next ninety days getting prepared.
- Stock up on goods that come from China.
- Consider investing in gold and silver instead of leaving your money in a volatile market. Talk to an expert as soon as possible.
- Work on self-reliant skills and strategies to prepare for what’s coming next.
- Learn to repair the things you already have.
We’re getting a chance to get ahead right now, and I strongly suggest we use it wisely.
What do you think?
Do you think the 90-day agreement will hold? How will this affect the price of goods right now? How will you use this time to prepare?
Let’s discuss it in the comment section.
6 Responses
As far as prepping goes, we are as prepped as we can be given our available amount of storage space. That space it bursting at the seams. We also have backup on items that may break or wear out in the near future. So, we will do no more prepping in the interim except for replacing what we may use from our stores. Hopefully, prices will remain stable or come down a bit for ongoing day-to-day items we normally buy.
I just bought a sewing machine. Havent owned one in years. I wanted new curtains and figured it will be cheaper to make them. Plus its an investment for the future too.
I have made curtains out of sheets I bought at thrift shops. Works great
Winston Churchill once said, “A Pessimist Sees the Difficulty in Every Opportunity; an Optimist Sees the Opportunity in Every Difficulty.” I consider myself an optimist and I’m encouraged with the progress President Trump has made on the Chinese tariffs. Will the pause expire after 90 days? No one knows, but why not be thankful for the compromising his administration has negotiated, continue to make your preparations and see the reality of America being made great again.
Well said. I agree.
We will remain cautiously optimistic. We just hatched out 14 chicks last Sunday. We will set up one of our adult with her first flock, add a few laying hens to our flock and butchering the rest. Currently we are switching to homemade versions of store bought items and overall just becoming more self reliance. The garden is in and garlic was just harvested. Keep prepping folks!