Trump says US and China have reached deal; Sunday tariffs off

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has dropped its plan to impose new tariffs on $160 billion of Chinese imports beginning Sunday under a modest interim deal that de-escalates a 17-month trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

As part of the agreement announced Friday, the administration is also reducing its existing import taxes on about $112 billion in Chinese goods from 15 percent to 7.5 percent. In return, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told reporters, China agreed to buy $32 billion in U.S. farm products over two years. Beijing has also committed to ending a long-standing practice of pressuring companies to hand over their technology as a condition of gaining access to the Chinese market.

Lighthizer said China had also agreed to lift nontariff barriers to the Chinese market for such products as beef, poultry, seafood, pet food and animal feed.

In all, the U.S. expects a $200 billion boost in exports over two years as a result of the deal.

“We expect the trade deficit to go down for sure,” Lighthizer said, adding that the deal will likely be signed the first week in January and take effect 30 days later.

‘‘Everything is written,” he said. “Everything is completely finished.”

NEW YORK — A 13-year-old boy was arrested Friday in the stabbing death of a Barnard College freshman who was approached in a park by as many as three youths as she ventured from her New York City campus on the eve of final exams.

The arrest of such a young suspect added another tragic element to the slaying of 18-year-old Tessa Majors, a case that has troubled city and campus leaders.

The boy, whose name has not been made public, is among just a handful of people in their early teens to be charged with murder in the city in recent years.

He is expected to be tried as a juvenile delinquent in family court on a murder charge, according to two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation. They were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.