Trump says the U.S. has signed a China trade deal and has a next plan with India – state
President Donald Trump said the United States and China signed a deal on trade, adding that he expected a deal with India soon.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg TV that the deal was signed earlier this week. Neither Lutnick nor Trump provided any details about the agreement.
“We just signed with China a few days ago,” Trump said Thursday night.
Lutnik said the deal was “signed and concluded” two days ago.
It is unclear whether the latest deal differs from one announced by Trump two weeks ago, which he said would make U.S. industry more accessible to much-needed magnets and rare earth minerals. The agreement cleared the way for the continuation of trade negotiations, and the United States agreed to stop trying to revoke visas for Chinese nationals on U.S. university campuses.
China's Ministry of Commerce said on Friday that the two sides “further confirmed the details of the framework.” But its statement does not explicitly mention our access to rare earths, minerals used in high-tech applications in the negotiating center.
“China will approve export applications for controlled projects that meet the conditions under the law. The United States will cancel a series of restrictive measures taken against China. Hopefully the United States and China will meet each other,” it said.
The agreement comes after preliminary talks in Geneva in early May, which led to delaying large-scale tariff hikes, which could potentially freeze trade between the two countries. The talks in London later set a framework for negotiations, and the deal Trump mentioned seemed to formalize the deal.
“The president likes to complete these transactions by himself. He is a trader. We will be in the event of a deal once it is reached,” Lutnik said.
Get national news
For news that affects Canada and around the world, please sign up for breaking news alerts that were sent directly to you at the time.
China has not announced any new agreements, but announced earlier this week that it is accelerating the approval of exports of rare earth, the material used in high-tech products such as electric vehicles. Beijing's restrictions on rare earth exports have always been a key point in the debate.
China's Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that Beijing is speeding up review of rare earth export license applications and approved “a certain number of compliance applications.”
With China placing demands on seven rare earth elements in April, export controls for minerals are clearly overshadowed in the latest trade talks between Beijing and Washington, a demand for seven rare earth elements in April that threatens to undermine the production of cars, robots, wind turbines and other high-tech products in the United States and around the world.
China has also recently taken steps to the fentanyl issue, announcing last week that it has two other substances as precursor chemicals for fentanyl, making it compliant with production, transportation and export regulations. Trump asked Beijing to stop the flow of such precursor ingredients to Mexican drug cartels, which use them to make fentanyl sell in the United States, and he imposes a 20% tariff on China's imports on fentanyl issues, the largest part of the current 30% tax on all goods.
The deal was reached in Geneva in May, and both sides demanded that both sides expand punitive tariffs as Trump escalated his trade war and drastically increased import tariffs. Some higher tariffs, such as Washington's duties on fentanyl trade and aluminum and steel, remain.
The rapid shifting policy is causing losses to the two largest economies in the world.
From January to March, the U.S. economy earns 0.5% annually, partly due to the rapid emergence of imports as companies and families are anxious to buy foreign goods, which Trump can then impose tariffs on.
In China, factory profits fell more than 9% from earlier a year ago, with automakers accounting for a large percentage. They fell more than 1% year-on-year from January to May.
Trump and other U.S. officials said they expect to reach trade agreements with many other countries, including India.
“We will have another deal after the deal,” Lutnik said.
& Copy 2025 Canadian Press
