Trump Hails Progress With China, but Details Are Sketchy - The New York Times


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Key Agreement Points

President Trump declared a deal with China to partially roll back retaliatory economic measures. This includes relaxing restrictions on Chinese rare earth minerals and magnets in exchange for the US scaling back export limits on its products and technology, and withdrawing proposed visa restrictions on Chinese students. Existing tariffs remain in place.

Incomplete Details

Specific details of the agreement remain undisclosed. While Trump presented it positively, the announcement focused primarily on the reversal of tit-for-tat measures implemented since increased tariffs in April, with no stated progress on broader trade issues.

Trump's Claims

Trump's claim of a 55% total tariff on Chinese goods is inaccurate, as tariffs vary widely across products.

Overall Context

The agreement signals a de-escalation of recent US-China trade tensions following several months of escalation. The deal's ultimate implications remain uncertain pending final approval from both President Xi and Trump.

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President Trump said Wednesday that the United States and China had struck a deal to roll back some of the punitive measures they had taken against each other’s economies in recent months, including his administration’s recently proposed restrictions on Chinese students attending U.S. universities.

The agreement followed two days of marathon negotiations in London, and will return the countries to the terms of a trade truce they had reached in May, after weeks of escalating tensions between them.

“OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!”

The full details of the agreement were not immediately released. But it essentially involves China relaxing its restrictions on shipments of valuable rare earth minerals and magnets needed by U.S. manufacturers. In return, U.S. officials would roll back limits that they had placed on exports of U.S. products and technology, including ethane and airplane parts, as well as the proposed visa restrictions. Both had been intended to put pressure on the Chinese.

Tariffs between the countries will remain unchanged. In his Truth Social post, Mr. Trump wrote that U.S. tariffs on China would be “a total of 55 percent.” That total adds together a 30 percent tariff he put on products from China in the last few months and a 25 percent tariff he imposed on some Chinese products during his first term. In reality, some tariffs on Chinese products are lower and many significantly higher.

While Mr. Trump described the agreement as a “deal,” officials did not announce progress on any other trade issues, beyond rolling back the tit-for-tat measures taken against each other after Mr. Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese products in early April.

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