President Donald Trump on Wednesday hailed a new trade framework with China as a major win, declaring that Beijing would resume shipments of rare earth minerals to the U.S. and accept a heavier tariff load, while Washington would allow the return of Chinese students to American universities.
“WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!” Trump wrote, summarizing the arrangement without elaborating on specifics.
He added: “FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA. LIKEWISE, WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!).”
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A White House official confirmed that under the proposed framework, the United States will charge a combined 55% tariff on Chinese goods. This includes a 10% baseline “reciprocal” tariff, a 20% tariff in response to fentanyl trafficking, and a 25% tariff carried over from previous trade rounds. China, in turn, will impose a 10% tariff on U.S. imports, the official said.
Trump stated that the deal is still pending final approval by both himself and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The agreement follows two days of high-level negotiations in London, where U.S. officials, led by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, met with a Chinese delegation headed by Vice Premier He Lifeng and top trade negotiator Li Chenggang. The meetings were aimed at putting substance behind the Geneva consensus reached last month, which had unraveled amid disagreements over China’s restrictions on exports of rare earths and critical minerals.
At the conclusion of the talks, Lutnick told reporters the new framework puts “meat on the bones” of the Geneva deal. He added: “There were a number of measures the United States of America put on when those rare earths were not coming. You should expect those to come off — sort of, as President Trump said, in a balanced way.”
The framework includes a pledge from China to resume shipments of rare earth metals and industrial magnets vital to technologies such as electric vehicles, smartphones, and missile guidance systems. In exchange, the U.S. is expected to ease certain export restrictions on industrial inputs required by Chinese manufacturers.
“President Trump is watching fentanyl closely,” Greer said, referencing the specific 20% tariff tier tied to Beijing’s cooperation on curbing fentanyl production.
However, officials on both sides acknowledged that the deal remains only a framework — not a finalized accord.
“We’ve got a framework, but we still need our principals to sign off,” China’s Li Chenggang said outside the negotiations venue.
Concerns are already surfacing that the framework may be more symbolic than substantive. While Trump’s social media declaration painted the outcome as a done deal, the absence of any formal documentation, timeline, or implementation mechanism has left analysts skeptical.
U.S. and Chinese negotiators said Tuesday that they had agreed to get the trade truce back on track and remove Chinese restrictions on rare earth exports. But even with these steps, the deeper rifts in the bilateral relationship — spanning industrial overcapacity, data security, and technology access — remain unaddressed.
The Trump administration’s prior use of export controls on semiconductor software, aviation components, and high-end manufacturing tools had drawn sharp backlash from Beijing. In response, China began restricting exports of key minerals, triggering fears across Western supply chains. Wednesday’s announcement suggests both sides are attempting to reset that escalation — but it remains unclear how long the reset will last.
Trump’s tariff policies over the past years have frequently shifted, creating uncertainty for global markets and contributing to supply chain congestion, port delays, and corporate losses. In recent weeks, the president has been labeled TACO (Trump always chickens out), underlining his pattern of inconsistency when it comes to deals.
With no enforcement clause or verification plan disclosed as of yet, there is concern that the deal may not survive the political and economic pressure ahead.
However, both delegations have pledged to continue remote talks. While Trump’s declarations cast the deal as a major geopolitical and economic win, the agreement still hinges on a final endorsement by him and Xi — and whether the promises on paper translate to action on the ground.