Negotiators have reached a framework of a trade deal to avert additional 100 percent tariffs that President Donald Trump had threatened to impose on imports from China, setting the stage for the US president’s highly anticipated meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in interviews Sunday that constructive meetings with his Chinese counterparts led to the deal, with the delegation from Beijing agreeing to defer restrictions on rare earth minerals that were poised to harm the US economy. The announcement marked a significant de-escalation of a whiplashing trade war between the world’s two largest economies, which heated up when Trump threatened to ratchet up tariffs earlier this month in response to China’s restrictions on the minerals, which are essential components in most electronics.
“President Trump gave me a great deal of negotiating leverage with the threat of the 100 percent tariffs, and I believe we’ve reached a very substantial framework that will avoid that and allow us to discuss many other things with the Chinese,” Bessent said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Bessent suggested in an interview with ABC News that China would defer the restrictions for about a year, although Chinese readouts included no details about a deferral of rare-earth restrictions.
He also said the countries had made progress on a deal to bring relief to U.S. farmers who have struggled under China’s boycott of US-grown soybeans.
Additionally, Bessent said, the countries have reached a “final deal” on TikTok, which Trump had promised to restructure to avert a ban of the popular social media app in the United States. Congress enacted the ban, and President Joe Biden signed it, to address national security concerns related to the app’s Chinese parent company ByteDance. Trump last month signed a deal that would spin off the app to a group of mostly American investors, including some of his top political allies.
The countries will also work together to address the fentanyl epidemic, which Trump has called an emergency and used as a pretense to implement tariffs against China.
The developments appear to have lowered the temperature ahead of Trump’s and Xi’s face-to-face meeting, their first of the US president’s second term and the highlight of his five-day swing through Asia. The summit in South Korea will mark a critical inflection point in an economic conflict that has raged amid the president’s escalating trade barriers against China and Xi’s tit-for-tat responses.
Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer spent Sunday negotiating with top Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Malaysia, while Trump, also in Kuala Lumpur, signed a Cambodia-Thailand peace deal and met with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The US and China envoys came to a “basic consensus” after negotiating on a wide range of issues including tariffs, export controls, fentanyl and agricultural trade, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. Further details must still be finalized and approved domestically.
China’s vice premier underscored the benefits of the US-China commercial relationship, noting that the results of negotiations were “hard-won and need to be jointly upheld,” and that he hopes the “US and China will meet each other halfway, further build mutual trust and manage differences,” according to Xinhua.
Meanwhile, Li described the negotiations as “intense” and said that while the US officials “expressed a strong position,” Beijing “is firmly committed to safeguarding its interests,” according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Greer told “Fox News Sunday” that the US and Chinese delegations had “constructive” conversations in Kuala Lumpur. But he said only the leaders can determine when they have a final deal.
“It is really going to depend on Trump and President Xi Jinping,” he said.
THE WASHINGTON POST
