U.S. And China Confirm New Trade Deal

The U.S. and China say they have reached a new bilateral trade agreement, though the details have yet to be made public.

At a high level, governments for each country say the trade framework will allow rare earth exports from China to the U.S. and ease restrictions on American technology flowing into China.

China has also reportedly agreed to loosen its export controls while the U.S. will cancel a range of restrictive trade measures imposed against Beijing.

Further details have yet to be announced by officials in Washington, D.C. or Beijing.

Statements that a deal has been reached come after U.S. President Donald Trump said “we just signed with China,” referring to a trade deal.

A White House official later clarified that the Trump administration and China had agreed to “an additional understanding of a framework to implement the Geneva agreement.”

In May, trade negotiation teams from both countries reached a trade agreement after two days of high-level negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Washington and Beijing had reached a preliminary agreement that suspended a majority of tariffs on each other’s goods for 90 days and to roll back certain trade restrictions.

However, the U.S. and China have since accused each other of violating the trade agreement. Recent data showed that China’s shipments of rare-earth metals to the U.S. fell 80% in May.

At the same time, the U.S. has taken steps to further restrict technology sales to China, particularly related to microchips and semiconductors.

U.S. officials said on June 27 that they are close to reaching trade deals with 10 other countries, without providing further details.