The White House Unveils Details of Landmark Agreement Between the World’s Two Largest Economies

The White House on Saturday released comprehensive details concerning the trade agreement reached earlier this week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. This landmark accord aims to decisively de-escalate the protracted and globally disruptive trade war between the two nations, introducing significant shifts in tariff structures and addressing key contentious issues like technology and rare Earth minerals.

The agreement successfully averted a threatened imposition of 100% tariffs by the Trump administration on a broad range of Chinese goods. More significantly, it extends a fragile but crucial trade truce between the world’s two largest economic powers for nearly a year, buying vital time for further negotiation and stabilization of global supply chains.

The Tariff Concessions: A Calculated Reduction in U.S. Duties

Central to the de-escalation effort is a series of calculated tariff reductions by the United States. The agreement stipulates that the U.S. will halve the 20% tariff currently levied on Chinese products related to the supply of fentanyl or fentanyl precursor chemicals originating from China.

This 10% reduction in duties, originally imposed in February, will notably decrease the overall U.S. tariff rate on Chinese imports. According to U.S. officials, the blended tariff rate will drop to approximately 47% from the previous 57%. This new overall rate is a composite figure, which includes:

The approximately 25% duties first imposed on Chinese imports during President Trump’s initial term in the White House.
A reduced 10% reciprocal tariff that had been implemented in April, which replaced the previous Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff rates.

While this marks a significant concession by the U.S., it retains a substantial portion of the tariffs imposed since the trade war began, suggesting a strategic move to ease tensions without fully conceding leverage.

China’s Key Concessions: Rare Earths and Retaliatory Measures

In a major win for the U.S. and a vital concession from Beijing, China has agreed to a good-faith postponement of the sweeping export controls it had announced earlier this month regarding rare Earth minerals and magnets. These materials are critical components in the manufacturing of essential high-tech goods, including electric vehicles, advanced aircraft, and sophisticated weaponry, making them one of Beijing’s most potent sources of leverage in its trade negotiations with Washington.

The Rare Earth Relaxation

The announced controls would have necessitated export licenses for products containing even trace amounts of a much larger list of elements, with the explicit aim of preventing their use in foreign military applications.

In a reversal that the White House hailed as a victory, China will now issue general licenses for the export of rare Earths, gallium, germanium, antimony, and graphite for the benefit of U.S. end-users and their suppliers. The White House asserted that this is tantamount to a de facto removal of the controls that China had imposed in April 2025 and October 2022, effectively opening the door for more reliable access to these critical minerals for U.S. industries.

Suspending Retaliatory Tariffs

Furthermore, China has committed to suspending all retaliatory tariffs that it had announced since March 4th. This suspension covers a wide array of U.S. agricultural products that were heavily targeted by Beijing, including:

U.S. chicken, wet corn, cotton, and sorghum.
The crucial market staples of soybeans, pork, and beef.
Aquatic products, fruits, vegetables, and various dairy products.

The agreement extends beyond tariffs. The White House confirmed that Beijing will also suspend or abolish all non-tariff retaliatory countermeasures enacted against the U.S. since March 4th. These included measures such as the blacklisting of certain American companies on the Chinese government’s “end-user” and “unreliable entity” lists—actions that created significant commercial uncertainty for U.S. firms operating in China.

Reciprocity and the Blacklist Expansion

The U.S. also made a reciprocal pledge, agreeing to a good-faith postponement regarding the Commerce Department’s expanded blacklist of companies prohibited from purchasing U.S. technology supplies, including semiconductor manufacturing equipment. This action was primarily designed to prevent listed companies from utilizing subsidiaries or other affiliated entities to circumvent export controls.

The expanded blacklist would have automatically included any company more than 50% owned by already listed firms, which was anticipated to significantly impact thousands of Chinese entities by restricting their access to vital American-made components. This pause offers temporary relief and a sign of willingness to temper the technology decoupling efforts.

The Chinese Perspective: A Question of Parity and Sovereignty

Despite the official celebration of the deal in Washington, several Chinese e-commerce experts and commentators have voiced concerns, suggesting that Beijing may have lost more than it gained in this specific round of negotiations with the Trump administration.

Their central critique revolves around the issue of parity and reciprocity. They argue that the tariff cuts and product rebalancing agreed upon do not equate or align fairly with the vast list of Chinese products that were not approved for tariff reduction. Essentially, the concessions made by the U.S. were viewed as less substantial than the comprehensive commitments extracted from China.

These experts have publicly urged the Chinese government to rebalance the scales and avoid acquiescing to all of America’s demands aimed at controlling or restructuring the Chinese economy. The prevailing sentiment among these critics is that the agreement is asymmetrical, favoring U.S. interests at the expense of Chinese economic autonomy.

The Soybean Commitment: A Painful Price

Adding fuel to the domestic criticism is China’s commitment to significantly increase its purchase of U.S. agricultural products. Specifically, China agreed to buy a minimum of 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in the final two months of 2025. Furthermore, Beijing committed to purchasing at least 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in each of the subsequent three years.

This large-scale, long-term commitment, particularly concerning the volume of soybeans, is seen by many Chinese trade analysts as a painful concession with an almost zero-percent chance of being commercially viable or necessary under normal market conditions for China, suggesting it was a purely political purchase demanded by the U.S. to support its agricultural sector.

In conclusion, while the Trump-Xi agreement successfully pulls the two nations back from the brink of a severe escalation, the details reveal a complex, carefully balanced set of concessions. It is a temporary pause secured by significant Chinese commitments on agriculture and critical minerals, and a measured U.S. relaxation on tariffs and blacklisting, ensuring that the fundamental tensions and structural challenges defining the Sino-American economic relationship will remain the central focus for the foreseeable future.