Trump, Xi Strike Landmark Trade Deal in South Korea to Rebalance
U.S.-China Economic Ties
President
Donald J. Trump
and Chinese President Xi
Jinping reached a sweeping trade and economic agreement this week in
the Republic of Korea,
marking what the White House called a “massive victory” for U.S. workers,
farmers, and national security.
Under
the deal, China
pledged to:
·
Halt the export of fentanyl precursors to the United States.
·
Suspend export controls on rare earths and critical minerals,
effectively removing restrictions imposed since 2022.
·
End retaliatory tariffs and non-tariff actions
against U.S. goods and companies.
·
Resume purchases of American farm exports, including 12 million metric tons of soybeans
before year-end and 25
million MMT annually through 2028.
·
Lift sanctions and investigations against U.S.
semiconductor and shipping firms.
·
Restore operations at Nexperia’s
chip facilities to ensure global semiconductor supply stability.
In return, the United
States agreed to:
·
Cut tariffs on Chinese imports by 10 percentage points
effective November 10,
2025, and suspend
further increases for one year.
·
Extend Section 301 tariff exclusions and pause new export control measures
targeting Chinese affiliates and shipping sectors during negotiations.
The
agreement caps President Trump’s Asia
tour, during which he secured a series of trade and investment
accords across the region:
·
In Malaysia
and Cambodia, the U.S. signed reciprocal trade agreements and critical minerals partnerships
with Thailand and Malaysia.
·
In Japan,
Trump announced expanded energy
purchases, new industrial
investments, and a critical
minerals accord valued at over $550 billion.
·
In South
Korea, he finalized commitments for maritime, energy, and technology
investments, further anchoring U.S. leadership in the
Indo-Pacific.
Analysts
described the pact as a temporary
truce in the tariff war, designed to reopen trade channels
while addressing U.S. concerns on fentanyl,
rare earths, and market access.
Fact Sheet: President
Donald J. Trump Strikes Deal on Economic and Trade Relations with China
The White House/01.11.2025
Rebalancing
Trade with China: This week in the Republic of Korea, President Donald
J. Trump reached a trade and economic deal with President Xi Jinping of China—a
massive victory that safeguards U.S. economic strength and national security while
putting American workers, farmers, and families first.
·
This historic agreement includes Chinese commitments
to:
o Halt the flow of
precursors used to make fentanyl into the United States.
o Effectively eliminate
China’s current and proposed export controls on rare earth elements and other critical
minerals.
o End Chinese retaliation
against U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and other major U.S. companies.
o Open China’s market
to U.S. soybeans and other agricultural exports.
CHINESE ACTIONS:
·
China will suspend the global implementation of the
expansive new export controls on rare earths and related measures that it announced
on October 9, 2025.
·
China will issue general licenses valid for exports
of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony, and graphite for the benefit of U.S.
end users and their suppliers around the world. The general license means the de
facto removal of controls China imposed in April 2025 and October 2022.
·
China will take significant measures to end the flow
of fentanyl to the United States. Specifically, China will stop the shipment of
certain designated chemicals to North America and strictly control exports of certain
other chemicals to all destinations in the world.
·
China will suspend all of the retaliatory tariffs that
it has announced since March 4, 2025. This
includes tariffs on a vast swath of U.S. agricultural products: chicken, wheat,
corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables,
and dairy products.
·
China will suspend or remove all of the retaliatory
non-tariff countermeasures taken against the United States since March 4, 2025,
including China’s listing of certain American companies on its end user and unreliable
entity lists.
·
China will purchase at least 12 million metric tons
(MMT) of U.S. soybeans during the last two months of 2025 and also purchase at least
25 MMT of U.S. soybeans in each of 2026, 2027, and 2028. Additionally, China will resume purchases of U.S.
sorghum and hardwood logs.
·
China will take appropriate measures to ensure the resumption
of trade from Nexperia’s facilities in China, allowing
production of critical legacy chips to flow to the rest of the world.
·
China will remove measures it took in retaliation for
the U.S.’s announcement of a Section 301 investigation on China’s Targeting the
Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance, and remove sanctions
imposed on various shipping entities.
·
China will further extend the expiration of its market-based
tariff exclusion process for imports from the United States and exclusions will
remain valid until December 31, 2026.
·
China will terminate its various investigations targeting
U.S. companies in the semiconductor supply chain, including its antitrust, anti-monopoly,
and anti-dumping investigations.
AMERICAN ACTIONS:
·
The United States will lower the tariffs on Chinese
imports imposed to curb fentanyl flows by removing 10 percentage points of the cumulative
rate, effective November 10, 2025, and will maintain its suspension of heightened
reciprocal tariffs on Chinese imports until November 10, 2026. (The current 10% reciprocal tariff will remain
in effect during this suspension period.)
·
The United States will further extend the expiration
of certain Section 301 tariff exclusions, currently due to expire on November 29,
2025, until November 10, 2026.
·
The United States will suspend for one year, starting
on November 10, 2025, the implementation of the interim final rule titled Expansion
of End-User Controls to Cover Affiliates of Certain Listed Entities.
·
The United States will suspend for one year, starting
on November 10, 2025, implementation of the responsive actions taken pursuant to
the Section 301 investigation on China’s Targeting the Maritime, Logistics, and
Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance. In the
meantime, the United States will negotiate with China pursuant to Section 301 while
continuing its historic cooperation with the Republic of Korea and Japan on revitalizing
American shipbuilding.
SECURING ANOTHER
WIN FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: This trade and economic deal caps President Trump’s
successful trip to Asia, where he delivered a series of historic wins for the American
people.
·
In Malaysia, President Trump signed Agreements on Reciprocal
Trade with Malaysia and Cambodia, and the United States announced joint frameworks
for trade negotiations with Thailand and Vietnam. He also signed critical minerals
cooperation agreements with Thailand and Malaysia.
·
In Japan, President Trump announced major projects advancing
Japan’s previous $550 billion investment commitment to the United States to further
revitalize the U.S. industrial base, signed a landmark critical minerals agreement
with Japan, secured historic purchases of U.S. energy from Japan, and deepened U.S.-Japan
cooperation to combat illegal drug trafficking.
·
In the Republic of Korea, the President secured billions
in landmark commitments, including investments to support American jobs, further
America’s energy dominance, promote American leadership in the technology revolution,
and build the U.S.-Korea maritime partnership.