On Wednesday, Donald Trump announced that the United States and China had come to an agreement to ease some of the harsh economic measures they had recently taken against each other.
Part of the deal included rolling back proposed restrictions that would have affected Chinese students planning to study at universities in the U.S.
The announcement came after two full days of intense meetings held in London. This new arrangement brings both nations back to the terms they had agreed on during a previous truce reached in May, following several weeks of growing strain between both sides.
New Trade Deal Signals De-escalation
Trump took to Truth Social to share his thoughts on the agreement, writing, “OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!”
Although the complete breakdown of the deal has not been made public, the general understanding is that China will loosen its hold on the export of rare earth minerals and magnets that U.S. companies rely on.
In exchange, the U.S. government will reduce restrictions it had placed on sending certain goods and technologies to China. These include airplane parts, ethane, and the student visa rules that had drawn criticism.
Tariffs Stay in Place
Even though both countries agreed to remove some restrictions, existing tariffs are not changing under the current agreement. In his Truth Social post, Trump stated that U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would remain at a “total of 55 percent.”
This figure was calculated by combining two earlier tariff rounds, a 30 percent hike imposed in recent months, and a 25 percent tariff set during Trump’s first term. However, actual tariff rates on Chinese goods vary widely, with some being lower and others much higher than the stated total.
Trump referred to the recent deal as a breakthrough, but U.S. authorities did not mention any advancements on other trade matters, except for canceling the back-and-forth penalties both sides had imposed following Trump’s new tariffs announced in April.
Experts Raise Concerns Over Concessions
Wendy Cutler, who serves as vice president at the Asia Society and previously worked as a U.S. trade negotiator, gave her view that the U.S. may have conceded too much in exchange for renewed access to China’s rare earth exports. She pointed out that including export controls in the talks is a major change in U.S. trade policy.
According to Cutler, issues related to national security had always been kept separate from trade discussions. She said that changing this approach sets a new path and gives China an advantage that will be hard to reverse.
In her words, “By now reversing this long-held position, the U.S. has opened the door for China that will be difficult to close.”
Cutler also mentioned that the deal reached in London could mark a major change in how the U.S. and China handle economic matters going forward.
