A toaster, a billiard ball, a live dolphin: these are among the goods that could become cheaper under a set of tariff-reduction lists that the United States and China exchanged this week, each covering roughly $30bn worth of bilateral trade. The US list identifies 77 categories of Chinese products — including bed linen, garden umbrellas and fish hooks — while Beijing's reciprocal catalogue runs to 1,619 types of American goods, from butter and lobster to MRI systems and several species of breeding animals. The sheer granularity of the lists, noted Han Lin, China country director at strategic advisory firm The Asia Group, reflects how intricate tariff codes can be rather than any exotic diplomatic signal. The announcements follow a summit between President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump in Washington, a meeting widely described as aimed at stabilising a relationship that had been badly strained by an escalating trade war throughout much of the previous year.

The agreement was brokered through the US-China Board of Trade, a body established during Trump's visit to Beijing in May. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer framed the lists as covering non-sensitive trade that "could benefit from more favourable tariff treatment," and stated that they represented improved market access for approximately 30% of US exports to China. Reaction from analysts was measured. Zhu Tian, vice-president and co-dean at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, described the development as a positive step without calling it a breakthrough, pointing out that the cuts cover a relatively small share of overall US-China trade.

Critically, semiconductors, electric vehicles and batteries — the sectors at the heart of the two countries' strategic rivalry — are entirely absent from both lists.