 "US President Donald Trump (left) and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands as they leave after their talks at the Gimhae Air Base, located next to the Gimhae International Airport, in Busan, South Korea, on October 30, 2025. (Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)")
The White House has announced that China has agreed to “effectively eliminate” all restrictions on the export of rare earth elements.
In a fact sheet, the White House said President Donald Trump reached an agreement with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during their meeting in South Korea last week.
Under the deal, China will remove both current and proposed export controls on rare earths and critical minerals, end retaliatory measures against US semiconductor manufacturers and other major American companies, and open its market to US soyabeans and other agricultural goods.
China will also halt various investigations targeting US semiconductor firms, including antitrust, anti-monopoly and anti-dumping probes, the White House said.
The administration described the agreement as a “massive victory that safeguards US economic strength and national security”.
In return, the Trump administration will reduce tariffs on Chinese goods by 10 per cent from 10 November, suspend the planned tariff hike for one year (until November 10, 2025), and extend tariff exclusions for the same period, according to the White House.
The administration will also suspend for one year the implementation of a rule that extends export controls to a designated entity’s foreign affiliates —subsidiaries or companies— where ownership was 50 per cent or more.
An uneasy truce, not a final deal
Despite the White House’s celebratory tone, the Trump-Xi agreement amounts to an uneasy truce rather than a final settlement.
Instead of removing tariffs and export controls outright, both sides have agreed to put them on hold for a year. Trump has previously stated that the United States and China will negotiate annually to extend the arrangement.
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More ShortsHe also said the rare earths deal was a one-year agreement that would be “very routinely extended as time goes by”.
“We have a deal. 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 said on Friday.
According to the fact sheet, China will purchase at least 12 million metric tonnes of US soyabeans during the final two months of 2025, and at least 25 million metric tonnes in each of 2026, 2027 and 2028. China will also resume imports of US sorghum and hardwood logs.