Image

       The U.S. and China held two days of talks in London. Credit...Toby Melville/Reuters

       Trump said U.S.-China trade deal is ‘done’ After two days of talks in London, President Trump said yesterday that the U.S. and China had struck a deal to roll back some of the punitive measures they had taken against each other’s economies in recent months.

       Under the agreement, China would relax its restrictions on shipments of rare earth minerals and magnets critical for some U.S. manufacturers. In return, the U.S. would not impose visa restrictions on Chinese students and would relax limits it had placed on some U.S. exports. The full details of the agreement were not immediately released.

       “OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME,” Trump wrote on social media. “RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!”

       Context: Economic tensions between the U.S. and China spiraled after Trump announced expansive tariffs in April. The escalation threatened businesses in both countries and risked empty shelves in American stores later this year.

       Advertisement

       SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

       Tariffs: The levies between the two countries will remain unchanged, and a 90-day pause in implementing some of the tariffs will expire in August. The U.S. trade representative said that the two sides would remain in contact but that another meeting had not yet been scheduled.

       Analysis: “From what we know of the agreement, it appears to merely unwind the damage and escalation from the president’s own trade war,” my colleague Ana Swanson, who covers trade and international economics, told me. “They haven’t yet made any progress toward a new trade deal.”

       Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.