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A fragile step toward defusing the trade war

The United States and China have agreed that an initial trade deal between the two countries would roll back a portion of the tariffs they have placed on each other’s products, Ana Swanson, Keith Bradsher and Alan Rappeport of the NYT report.

• This would be the first time the Trump administration has agreed to remove any of the tariffs it has placed on $360 billion worth of Chinese goods.

• The agreement has not yet been completed, and a deal could fail to materialize as it has in previous rounds of negotiations.

It would be “a significant step toward defusing tensions between the world’s largest economies,” Ms. Swanson, Mr. Bradsher and Mr. Rappeport write. Its supporters argue that it would allow Mr. Trump to claim that he had “forced China to open its markets and buy more American agriculture goods while retaining leverage in future negotiations.”