The White House announced a "China trade deal" in a May 11 statement, but did not disclose details. The apparent agreement came together sooner than most observers expected after Trump's 145% tariffs on Chinese imports virtually halted $600 billion in annual trade between the world's two largest economies.

Small packages from China are still subject to tariffs of 120%, a White House official confirmed Monday — a major blow for U.S. consumers seeking cheap goods from e-commerce retailers like Shein and Temu.

The White House backed off from the steepest levies, as the costs of an all-out trade war with China threatened global economic growth.

President Donald Trump‘s top aides spilled the beans Wednesday about how they convinced him to back off his sky-high tariffs on China. They boasted to The Washington Post that they used data showing how his base of support—in particular truckers and longshoremen—would be hurt by the levies to change his mind.