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The ceasefire in the tariff fight between the United States and China is encouraging trade across the Pacific, holding up freight prices three weeks on, even as container bookings have slowed.

The U.S. agreed to drop its 145% tariff rate on Chinese goods by 115 percentage points to 30%, while China agreed to lower its rate on U.S. goods by the same amount to 10%.   

U.S. and Chinese officials said May 12 they had reached a deal to roll back most of their recent tariffs and call a 90-day truce in their trade war to allow for more talks.

President Donald Trump indicated that he would strike a friendlier relationship with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney than the one he had with Justin Trudeau, whom Trump “didn’t like.”

A.P. Moller-Maersk purchased a railway linking ports at both ends of the Panama Canal, undermining the U.S.'s presence along a trade route where Donald Trump is trying to elbow out competitors.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicted the pace of global expansion to slow to 3.1% this year, with annual expansion in the U.S. wilting to 1.6% next year.

Specific to trade, the agenda directs the U.S. Trade Representative to “chart a new course for any trade agreements to ensure they help raise wages and grow our industrial base.”

Canada will keep its trade retaliation in place until the U.S. lifts its own tariffs and commits to free trade, said Mark Carney, who will succeed Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister.

The Senate has confirmed Jamieson Greer, a veteran of President Donald Trump’s first-term economic battles with China, Mexico and Canada, to be America’s top trade negotiator.

President Donald Trump is focusing on the revenue his tariffs would generate as he seeks to get tax cuts through Congress, pointing to an ominous path for countries trying to avoid a trade war.