The agreement lowers tensions in the trade war but does little to change the overall direction of deteriorating ties between Beijing and Washington, analysts say.

Under the new agreement, the US and China have both suspended all but 10% of their Liberation Day tariffs for 90 days and cancelled other retaliatory tariffs. This will cut US tariffs on Chinese imports to 30%, while Chinese tariffs on US imports will be cut to 10%. The pause will begin on 14 May.

The world’s two biggest economies agreed to a 90-day pause on most of their levies after a first round of trade talks in Switzerland over the weekend.