Chinese president Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington in September produced no major new agreement. But it did result in an extension of the trade truce that Xi and US president Donald Trump struck in Busan, South Korea, last October.
Instead of expiring on Nov 10, the truce will expire on Jan 10, 2027. Though modest, this achievement has given an unstable world economy a reprieve.
The core agreement is simple enough: China will refrain from enforcing the export controls on rare earths and related materials that it unveiled last October, and the US will refrain from raising tariffs further, holding the overall duty on Chinese goods near the 47% level reached in Busan (down from 57% beforehand).
