US and China announce agreement to cut reciprocal tariffs for 90 days
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent /Pete Marovich/Getty Images)
(GENEVA) — The U.S. and China issued a joint statement on Monday announcing an agreement to cut reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, with both sides “recognizing the importance of a sustainable, long-term, and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship.”
U.S. and Chinese representatives convened for talks in Geneva, Switzerland, this weekend in a bid to establish the basis for negotiations in a broader potential trade deal. President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff measures announced in April touched off a spiralling trade war between the two economic giants, roiling markets and prompting fears of a recession in the U.S.
“We have reached an agreement on a 90-day pause and substantially move down the tariff levels,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a Monday press conference in Geneva. “Both sides, on the reciprocal tariffs, will move their tariffs down 115%,” Bessent said.
U.S Trade Representative Jamieson Greer added that the U.S and China will maintain 10% reciprocal tariffs as part of the agreement.
“Today, with this agreement, we come to agreement that though that our reciprocal tariff rate will go down to 10% on the United States side,” Greer said. “The Chinese on their side also go down 115% to 10% and they remove the countermeasures that they have in place.”
Greer confirmed that during the pause, the effective tariff on Chinese goods entering the U.S. will be 30%. He also said that China’s effective tariffs will be at 10% for the duration of the pause. The changes will come into force by Wednesday, the joint U.S.-China statement said.
“What matters for the agreement today is that we each agreed to come down on the reciprocal tariff and related retaliation to 10%,” Greer said.
In a statement carried by China’s official state news agency Xinhua, Beijing said that the two sides “will establish a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations” once the measures set out in Monday’s agreement were in place.
“These discussions may be conducted alternately in China and the United States, or a third country upon agreement of the parties,” the statement continued. “As required, the two sides may conduct working-level consultations on relevant economic and trade issues.”
Monday’s announcement followed two days of talks that both sides described as successful.
In a media briefing on Sunday, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said trade talks with the U.S. “achieved substantial progress and reached important consensus.”
Earlier Sunday, the White House said that it reached an agreement without providing any details.
While Greer called it a “deal,” Bessent said only that “substantial progress” had been made.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Lauren Minore, Hannah Demissie, Alex Ederson and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — In a split verdict, hip-hop mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was found guilty of two of the five charges he faced but was acquitted of the most serious charge, racketeering conspiracy, capping a high-profile trial in Manhattan federal court.
Combs was also acquitted of two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion – pertaining to former girlfriend Cassie Ventura and another former girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym “Jane.”
However, the jury found Combs guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution – one each for Ventura and “Jane.” Combs faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years for each of those counts.
Following six weeks of testimony presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian that saw the prosecution present 34 witnesses and the defense present none, the jury of eight men and four women deliberated just over two days before reaching their verdicts.
The verdicts sparked mixed reactions at the lower Manhattan courthouse and beyond.
Combs got down from his chair and knelt on the floor after the verdicts were read, appearing to pray while some of his attorneys embraced. Marshals then escorted Combs out of the courtroom while some spectators in the gallery cheered and applauded.
Subramanian said he will decide whether Combs get released today before he adjourned the court. He said that the decision might take some time – including giving the lawyers time to write letters arguing for and against release – but that it will happen sometime today. Prosecutors asked for a “few hours” and the judge gave them until 1 p.m. ET to submit their arguments.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey said the government plans to pursue “significant incarceration” for Combs.
Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said that Combs should be released today.
“I am not saying it is not a serious crime. It is a crime of a vastly different nature,” he said. “I believe that a significant change in conditions is warranted.”
“Although the jury did not find Combs guilty of sex trafficking Cassie beyond a reasonable doubt, she paved the way for a jury to find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution,” Douglas Wigdor, the attorney for Cassie Ventura, Sean Combs’ ex-girlfriend and a witness in the case, said in a statement.
“By coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice,” the statement continued, in part. “We believe and support our client who showed exemplary courage throughout this trial. She displayed unquestionable strength and brought attention to the realities of powerful men in our orbit and the misconduct that has persisted for decades without repercussion.”
“This case proved that change is long overdue, and we will continue to fight on behalf of survivors,” the statement concluded.
“Sex crimes deeply scar victims, and the disturbing reality is that sex crimes are all too present in many aspects of our society,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted the case, said in a statement. “Victims endure gut-wrenching physical and mental abuse, leading to lasting trauma. New Yorkers and all Americans want this scourge stopped and perpetrators brought to justice.”
“Prosecuting sex crimes requires brave victims to come forward and tell their harrowing stories. We and our law enforcement partners recognize the hardships victims endure and have prioritized a victim-centered approach to investigating and prosecuting these cases,” the statement concluded.
Combs was initially indicted in September 2024 on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking by force and transportation to engage in prostitution. A superseding indictment in March 2025 included additional allegations of forced labor under the racketeering conspiracy count, while another superseding indictment the following month added an additional charge of sex trafficking and one of transportation to engage in prostitution
Federal prosecutors accused Combs of using his many businesses, and the people he employed to run them, to conduct a criminal enterprise to illegally coerce women into sex and conceal his alleged illicit conduct to protect his reputation. The alleged activities included “sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, coercion and enticement to engage in prostitution, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice,” according to the indictment.
In addition to the racketeering charge, the indictment also included two separate counts each of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution, both involving two alleged victims.
Combs’ attorneys countered that Combs may well be a violent man – one who indulges in unconventional sexual conduct, abused illegal drugs and committed domestic violence – but he wasn’t part of a broader criminal organization.
“This case is about those real-life relationships, and the government is trying to turn those relationships into a racketeering case,” Combs’ attorney, Teny Geragos, told jurors in her opening statement. “The evidence is going to show you a very flawed individual, but it will not show you a racketeer, a sex trafficker, or somebody transporting for prostitution.”
The prosecution called 34 witnesses over six weeks of testimony, beginning with Combs’ former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, whom Combs was seen physically assaulting in a widely circulated hotel surveillance video from 2016. Other witnesses included two alleged Combs victims who testified under the pseudonyms “Mia” and “Jane,” as well as two male escorts to testified that they were paid to participate in so-called “freak-off” sexual encounters with Combs, Ventura and other alleged victims. The jury also heard from witnesses to alleged abuse and sexual acts, and a forensic psychologist who testified regarding why people often remain in abusive relationships.
One of the most high-profile prosecution witnesses was Scott Mescudi, aka rapper Kid Cudi, who testified that he was told Combs allegedly broke into his home and had someone set his car on fire after learning that he was dating Cassie Ventura. Combs previously denied any involvement in the car fire.
Federal prosecutors the following day told Judge Arun Subramanian that they were no longer including attempted kidnapping and attempted arson as underlying crimes in the alleged racketeering conspiracy charge against Combs. Instead, prosecutors signaled that they would push sex trafficking and forced labor as primary predicate acts that the jury could find to convict Combs of racketeering conspiracy.
Defense attorneys had argued that no evidence was presented directly tying Combs to the arson that damaged rapper Kid Cudi’s vehicle. Defense attorneys also argued that the alleged kidnapping of Combs’ former employee, Capricorn Clark, by Combs to confront Kid Cudi was far removed from the heart of the case. Federal prosecutors did not elaborate on their decision in their letter to the judge.
The prosecution delivered a nearly five-hour-long closing argument on Thursday, June 26, summarizing 28 days of testimony and evidence. The defense spent four hours the next day presenting their summation, followed by the prosecution rebuttal. Deliberations began on Monday, June 30 after Judge Arun Subramanian gave the jury their instructions.
On Tuesday, the jury told the court that they’d reached a verdict on four of the five five counts with which Combs was charged, they were unable to reach a verdict on the first count — racketeering conspiracy — prompting the judge to instruct them to continue deliberations.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(BALTIMORE) — A federal judge in Maryland is hearing arguments from the federal government Tuesday over the 20-year-old Venezuelan man deported to El Salvador whose removal violated a previous court settlement, according to a court order.
The hearing comes two weeks after U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee, ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of the man, identified as Cristian in court filings.
In her opinion, Judge Gallagher referenced the case of wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and said that “like Judge [Paula] Xinis in the Abrego Garcia matter, this court will order Defendants to facilitate Cristian’s return to the United States so that he can receive the process he was entitled to under the parties’ binding Settlement Agreement.”
The class action case from 2019 was filed on behalf of individuals who entered the U.S. as unaccompanied minors and later sought asylum.
The group sued the government to be able to have their asylum applications adjudicated while they remained in the United States. The parties settled in 2024.
But in a court filing on Monday, attorneys for the Department of Justice called Cristian a member of the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua and argued that, if returned, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would deny his asylum application because of his alleged gang membership.
The government said USCIS issued an “Indicative Asylum Decision” last week “making clear” that if the 20-year old Venezuelan returned to the U.S., the agency would deny his asylum application.
“USCIS based this decision on Cristian being [redacted] TdA which has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and described as “a brutal organization ‘that uses murder and torture to achieve its aims,” the government said.
(BOSTON) — A woman who served on the grand jury as part of the high-profile investigation into Karen Read — who was acquitted of murder charges last month in the death of her boyfriend — agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge she leaked information from the secret proceeding, according to a court document filed Tuesday.
Jessica Leslie agreed to plead guilty to a charge of criminal contempt that accused her of willfully disobeying court rules against disclosure of grand jury information.
Leslie disclosed “the names of various witnesses appearing before the grand jury and the substance of their testimony and other evidence presented to the grand jury, all while said information was under seal and not subject to disclosure,” federal prosecutors said.
While the charging document did not specify that Leslie was a grand juror in the Read case, sources confirmed the case to ABC News.
Read was originally indicted by a Boston grand jury in June 2022 in the death of her police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe. Prosecutors alleged Read hit O’Keefe with her car outside the home of a fellow police officer after a night of heavy drinking in January 2022 and then left him to die there during a major blizzard.
The first trial ended in a mistrial last year after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
In a second trial that ended last month, Read was found not guilty of the most serious charges against her — murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene after an accident. She was convicted of operating under the influence of liquor and sentenced to one year of probation.
Leslie agreed to a sentence of incarceration for one day, deemed served, and 24 months of supervised release, court records said.
A plea hearing was not immediately scheduled.
Federal prosecutors did not say how they learned Leslie had disclosed secret grand jury information, but sources said authorities had been monitoring social media accounts and other communications during a case that received widespread attention.
