AsianFin -- U.S. President Donald Trump is planning a trip to China next Spring as his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping has yielded an agreement to settle Washington’s major concerns, including those regarding Beijing’s export controls on rare earth.
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Trump plans to visit China in April and Xi will then head over to the U.S. either Pam Beach, Florida or Washington, D.C., at some point after that, the president on Thursday told reporters prior to boarding Air Force One and leaving South Korea. Trump revealed the plan after he and Xi wrapped up an around 90-mininute meeting, which he described as a highly productive one and a formal deal would be signed “pretty soon.”
The meeting essentially led to a one-year trade truce between the United States and China, covering various topics ranging from rare earth, fentanyl tariffs to port fees. Trump declared any concerns over rare earths to be “settled” as both sides have reached an agreement, or a one-year deal, that would be extended through future re-negotiations.
“We have a deal,” Trump said. “Now, every year we’ll renegotiate the deal, but I think the deal will go on for a long time, long beyond the year. But all of the rare earth has been settled, and that’s for the world.”
Trump announced that his administration would halve its fentanyl-related tariffs on Chinese goods to 10%, with a promise China would work “very hard to stop the [fentanyl] flow” into the U.S. With the specific cut, the overall tariffs on China would be lowered to 47% from 57%, according to the president.
Trump told reporters China will resume buying “tremendous” amounts of American soybeans “starting immediately”, without providing further details. He said China would also purchase more U.S. energy and hinted the transaction involving Alaskan oil and gas.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump said Xi has authorized the Chinese government to begin the massive purchase of soybeans, sorghum and other farm products. “Additionally, China has agreed to continue the flow of rare earth, critical minerals, magnets, etc., openly and freely,” he wrote, adding that China has “strongly stated that they will dilligently with us to stop” the fentanly flow.
China also agreed that they will begin the process of purchasing American energy, and “a very large scale transaction may take place“ concerning their purchase of oil and gas from Alaska, Trump posted. Chris Wright and Doug Burgum, the U.S. Secretaries of Energy and the Interior, respectively, along with respective energy teams will be meeting to see if such an energy deal can be worked out, he said.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent the same day confirmed China’s commitment to buy at least 87 million tons of U.S. soybeans in total from this year to 2028. China will buy at least 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans this year, and a minimum of 25 million metric tons per year from 2026 to 2028, Rollins said in her post on X.
Rollins posted China will also import sorghum and hardwood from the U.S., and remove “unwarranted tariffs” on most U.S. agricultural like soybeans, cotton, sorghum, corn, wheat, chicken, dairy, pork, beef, fruits and vegetables.
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