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United States President Donald Trump has said talks aimed at cooling trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies have ended in “a great deal”, which will result in China supplying rare earths to the US, in exchange for the Trump administration walking back threats to revoke Chinese student visas.
“Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval from President Xi [Jinping] and me,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities [which has always been good with me!].”
The announcement came after days of talks between US and Chinese officials in London, aimed at resolving the trade dispute that had led to reciprocal tariffs earlier this year.
“We are getting a total of 55 per cent tariffs, China is getting 10 per cent,” Trump wrote, celebrating the agreement.
White House officials later explained the 55 per cent figure being cited included tariffs put in place during Trump’s first term in office.
Apart from Trump’s public comments, many of the specifics of the deal and its implementation details remain unclear.
The market reaction to the news was limited, with some analysts citing the “unfinished” nature of the agreement as the reason.
The two countries had gathered in London for the talks, which started earlier this week, to address gaps in a temporary trade truce agreed upon in Geneva last month.
The Geneva deal had faltered due to China’s continued curbs on critical minerals exports, prompting the Trump administration to respond with export controls that prevented shipments of semiconductor design software, chemicals and other technology goods to China.
