Trump claimed the meeting was \u201camazing\u201d and a \u201c12\u201d on a scale of 1-10, but experts have said Xi successfully leveraged China\u2019s rare earths advantage.<\/b>
\nKey Facts
The U.S. agreed to reduce a tariff punishing China for the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. by 10%, drop its threat of a new 100% tariff beginning Nov. 1 and extend a pause on reciprocal tariffs for another year, according to China\u2019s Ministry of Commerce\u2014notable deescalations of Trump\u2019s trade war with China.
China, meanwhile, agreed to extend for one year a pause on export controls of rare earth minerals that were in response to Trump\u2019s tariffs, though Trump acknowledged the deal would need to be renegotiated when the year is up.
By leveraging its monopoly on rare earths, China \u201csuccessfully orchestrated a game of \u2018whack-a-mole\u2019 for the Trump administration,\u201d Brookings Institution fellow Jonathan Czin told The New York Times.
The outcome of the meeting \u201con the surface . . . might look like a return to the status quo before the trade war,\u201d New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote, \u201cbut it\u2019s more like our surrendering and ending up in a weaker position after a conflict we started,\u201d noting Trump\u2019s tariffs \u201cled China to weaponize its control of rare earths.\u201d
Joe Mazur, a geopolitics analyst at Trivium China consultancy firm, told Reuters the Trump administration\u2019s negotiations with China are \u201cmore or less total vindication of China\u2019s strategy of never striking first but always striking back,\u201d calling China\u2019s hold on rare earths \u201cthe ace in the hole that China\u201d without \u201cany comparable leverage\u201d from the U.S.
Some other experts said the meeting prevents a new flare up, for now, but \u201cwas less breakthrough than breathing room,\u201d Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Politico, while The Economist called the meeting \u201cmore grand bazaar than grand bargain.\u201dTangent
Trump called the meeting \u201camazing\u201d and a \u201c12\u201d on a scale of 1-10, but the tone of Beijing\u2019s recap was more cautious: \u201cThe two teams can continue their talks in the spirit of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit, and continuously shorten the list of problems and lengthen the list of cooperation,\u201d the readout of the talks said.Key Background
The details of Beijing\u2019s offers to the U.S., including China increasing its purchase of soybeans, oil and gas, signing off on a TikTok sale, reducing Chinese purchases of Russian oil and restricting sales of semiconductor chips from U.S. companies to China, appear to be in flux. Trump told reporters about chips sales: \u201cthat\u2019s really up to you and Nvidia, but we\u2019re sort of the arbitrator.\u201d He said later on Truth Social China would buy \u201cmassive amounts\u201d of soybeans and there could be a \u201cvery large\u201d purchase of Alaskan oil and gas. China said it agreed to \u201cexpanding agricultural product trade\u201d and to \u201cproperly resolve issues related to TikTok.\u201d Trump also backed off his plea for China to reduce purchases of Russian oil to pressure President Vladimir Putin to end the war, telling reporters after the meeting \u201cthere\u2019s not a lot more they can do . . . they\u2019ve been buying oil from Russia for a long time. It takes care of a big part of China.\u201d<\/p>\n