The US-China trade war originally reached a 90-day tariff "ceasefire" agreement after the Geneva talks in May. However, both sides quickly began blaming each other for not fulfilling their commitments, leading to renewed tensions.
Trump: US-China Trade Agreement 'Completed'
In response, the US and China held another economic and trade consultation meeting this week in London, focusing on core issues such as tariffs, rare earths, chips, and market access.
Yesterday (11th), US President Trump posted on his social platform Truth Social, announcing that the US-China trade agreement was "completed" and only awaiting final approval from him and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump elaborated on the key terms of the agreement:
Our agreement with China is complete, pending final approval from President Xi and myself. All necessary rare earths will be supplied in advance by China. Similarly, we will provide China with the contents of our agreed terms, including allowing Chinese students to study at our universities (which has always been good for me!).
We obtained a total of 55% tariffs, while China got 10%. Bilateral relations are very good! Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Additionally, Trump subsequently added:
Supplementing the statement about China, President Xi and I will work closely to open China to US trade. This will be a huge victory for both countries!!!
Chinese Commerce Ministry Vice Minister: This Communication was Professional, Rational, In-depth, and Candid
Meanwhile, Li Chenggang, China's international trade negotiation representative and vice minister of commerce, also told domestic and foreign media in London that over the past two days, the US and Chinese teams had in-depth exchanges and reached a framework for implementing the consensus from the June 5th leaders' call and the Geneva talks. He emphasized:
Over the past two days, the communication between the US and Chinese teams was 'very professional, rational, in-depth, and candid'. We hope that the progress made in this London talks will help further enhance mutual trust between China and the US, promote stable and healthy development of Sino-US economic and trade relations, and inject positive energy into global economic development.
Experts commented on this negotiation preview, stating that this meeting not only introduced stability factors into China-US economic and trade relations but also brought positive signals to the global economy. Industry professionals predict that if the agreement is successfully implemented, the tension in global rare earth and chip supply chains will be alleviated, and market confidence may be further boosted.
Any Variables?
However, Michael Sobolik, a senior researcher at the Hudson Institute in Washington, believes that while the agreement might be short-term beneficial to the US, allowing US companies to import rare earths, in the long term, the US will continue to rely on China for rare earth resources. Given China's past record of violations, Sobolik thinks China may still potentially breach the agreement in the future.
Sobolik therefore believes that the US-China trade war will not stop, but is merely a temporary truce:
Trump must understand that the CCP cannot be trusted.
Bitcoin Fluctuating at High Point
Regarding cryptocurrency prices, Bitcoin briefly broke through $110,000 last night after the good news of the US-China agreement was released. However, buying momentum did not sustain, and at the time of writing, it was trading at $108,632, down 0.93% in the past 24 hours.
