Trump and Xi Reach Trade Deal in South Korea: China Suspends Rare Earth Controls, US Cuts Fentanyl Tariffs
On October 30, 2025, in Busan, South Korea, President Donald J. Trump held a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In a fact sheet published on November 1, the White House said Trump had reached a trade and economic deal with Xi in the Republic of Korea that week, including Chinese commitments to halt the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals into the United States, effectively eliminate China's current and proposed export controls on rare earth elements and other critical minerals, end Chinese retaliation against U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and other major companies, and open China's market to U.S. soybeans and other agricultural exports.
Under the White House list of Chinese actions, China will suspend the global implementation of the expanded rare earth export controls it announced on October 9, 2025, and will issue general licenses for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite for the benefit of U.S. end users and their suppliers around the world. China will also suspend all retaliatory tariffs announced since March 4, 2025, covering chicken, wheat, corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables and dairy products, and will suspend or remove the retaliatory non-tariff countermeasures from the same period, including listings of certain American companies.
On purchases, China will buy at least 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans during the last two months of 2025 and at least 25 million metric tons in each of 2026, 2027 and 2028, and will resume purchases of U.S. sorghum and hardwood and softwood logs. China will also take measures to restore trade from Nexperia's facilities in China and terminate its investigations targeting U.S. semiconductor supply chain companies.
U.S. actions include lowering the tariffs on Chinese imports imposed to curb fentanyl flows by 10 percentage points effective November 10, 2025, and maintaining the suspension of heightened reciprocal tariffs on Chinese imports until November 10, 2026, with the current 10 percent reciprocal tariff remaining in effect during the suspension. The United States will extend certain Section 301 tariff exclusions to November 10, 2026, and will suspend for one year from November 10, 2025 both the responsive actions in the Section 301 investigation of China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors and the interim rule expanding end-user export controls to affiliates of listed entities.
(Source: The White House)
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：特朗普在韩国金海国际机场与习近平握手，2025年10月30日。白宫官方图，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: President Trump greets Chinese President Xi Jinping at Gimhae International Airport, South Korea, October 30, 2025. Official White House photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
