The President of the United States, Donald Trump, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have reached an agreement in which both pledge to reduce the tariff war that began in April. Following an “express” meeting of just over an hour and a half in South Korea, held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, the US will reduce the tariffs it imposed on China in retaliation for fentanyl trafficking from 20% to 10%, bringing the total from 57% to 47%, according to EFE.
In exchange, Xi Jinping has reportedly committed to strengthening controls on the trafficking of the chemicals necessary to manufacture fentanyl. Furthermore, according to Trump, China will resume the purchase of “massive” quantities of soybeans, sorghum, and other agricultural products from the United States, which had been suspended due to the trade war, while there will also be no further restrictions on Chinese exports of rare earths to the US.
Additionally, according to the US president, China has reportedly committed to starting to purchase US energy, such as oil and gas from Alaska. In this regard, Trump also lamented that Xi Jinping “has been buying oil from Russia for a long time,” although he assured that both will work together to end the war in Ukraine.
Recall that the US had imposed tariffs on China of up to 145%, while Beijing reached up to 125% on US imports. The restrictions on Chinese rare earth exports jeopardized the US reindustrialization plan, given that China has the largest reserves of this material, which is key for the manufacturing of electronics, chips, and batteries.
