The agenda of the one hour and 40 minutes meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping appears not to have touched on some perennial problems such as tensions over the self-governed island of Taiwan.
But Trump said China had agreed to buy large quantities of American farm products and to ensure steady supplies of rare earths elements used in many industries. Here are some of the key takeaways from the meeting.
Rolling back tariffs
Photo: Reuters
Trump told reporters that he had agreed to cut to 10% his 20% tariff increase imposed over China’s role in producing fentanyl and chemicals used to make it. China confirmed that will take average tariffs on Chinese goods the U.S. imports to 47% from 57%.
Other tariff increases remain in place, but for now, the two sides have extended a truce on even steeper tariff increases that began in May when Trump and Xi agreed to pause those to allow time to work on a framework for resolving trade tensions.
Trump said that he would go to China in April and Xi would come to the U.S. “some time after that.”
Sales of computer chips to China
China will speak with Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia about purchasing their computer chips. That won’t include its next-generation Blackwell AI chip, Trump said, “but a lot of the chips.”
U.S. soybeans and other farm exports
Trump said the Chinese side has committed to buying “a tremendous amount” of American soybeans, sorghum and other farm products.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said China has agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of American soybeans during the current season and to buying 25 million tons annually for the next three years.
Rare earths, port fees and U.S energy sales
Trump said China had agreed not to tighten restrictions on exports of rare earths and the technology and equipment used to process them. Trump earlier had threatened a 100% import tax because of China’s rare earth restrictions.
“Xi had agreed to a one-year reprieve on the curbs that is likely to be “routinely extended.” “All of the rare earth has been settled, and that’s for the world,” Trump said.
China and the U.S. likewise said they would not impose higher port fees on each others vessels. Trump also said China had agreed to begin purchasing oil and gas from Alaska.
No TikTok deal yet
Beijing said it will work with the Trump administration to resolve issues related to TokTok’s ownership.
Ukraine
The U.S. and China will “work together” on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, Trump said, adding, “Ukraine came up very strongly, we talked about it for a long time.”
China’s take on the meeting
According to Chinese state media, stressing that dialogue is better than confrontation, Xi listed a range of issues where China and the U.S. could work together, including combating illegal immigration and telecom fraud, anti-money laundering efforts, artificial intelligence and handling infectious diseases.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
It is challenging to build infrastructure in much of Europe. Constrained budgets and polarized politics tend to undermine long-term projects, forcing officials to react to emergencies rather than plan for the future. Not in Austria. Today, the country is to officially open its Koralmbahn tunnel, the 5.9 billion euro (US$6.9 billion) centerpiece of a groundbreaking new railway that will eventually run from Poland’s Baltic coast to the Adriatic Sea, transforming travel within Austria and positioning the Alpine nation at the forefront of logistics in Europe. “It is Austria’s biggest socio-economic experiment in over a century,” said Eric Kirschner, an economist at Graz-based Joanneum
OPTION: Uber said it could provide higher pay for batch trips, if incentives for batching is not removed entirely, as the latter would force it to pass on the costs to consumers Uber Technologies Inc yesterday warned that proposed restrictions on batching orders and minimum wages could prompt a NT$20 delivery fee increase in Taiwan, as lower efficiency would drive up costs. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the remarks yesterday during his visit to Taiwan. He is on a multileg trip to the region, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan. His visit coincided the release last month of the Ministry of Labor’s draft bill on the delivery sector, which aims to safeguard delivery workers’ rights and improve their welfare. The ministry set the minimum pay for local food delivery drivers at
RSS