The US Court of International Trade found in May that Trump’s so-called “liberation day” tariff scheme was illegal. The court ordered the White House to unwind the levies but an appeal from the justice department secured a temporary halt to the mandate.

The China-US truce has a 12 August deadline, unlike the majority of Trump's tariffs which have a deadline of 1 August. Tariffs are taxes charged on goods bought from other countries. Typically, they are a percentage of a product's value. A 10% tariff means a $10 product has a $1 tax on top - taking the total cost to the importer $11 (£8.35).