Thursday’s summit in South Korea followed months of renewed tensions that have impeded trade between the two countries, despite several announced truces.
While Trump has ratcheted up tariffs on China — at one point as high as 145 percent — and tightened export controls on high-tech goods, Beijing has responded with its own devastating pressure campaign.
That includes reducing purchases of American farm goods, which fell by more than 50 percent in the first seven months of 2025. U.S. soybeans farmers, who exported a record $18 billion worth of their crop to China in 2022, have been hit particularly, with just $2.4 billion in shipments to China in January through July.
Beijing also imposed new export controls on rare earth materials.
Earlier this month, China added five more rare earth elements to its control list and, much more controversially, outlined a plan requiring foreign companies that use even tiny amounts of Chinese-sourced rare earths to obtain a license from Beijing to export their finished products.
U.S. officials described that move as an intolerable attempt by China to control global supply chains, and Trump threatened new 100 percent tariffs to take effect on Nov. 1.
But it appears both sides wanted to avoid that kind of escalation. During the weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, after meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Malaysia, said they believed Beijing was prepared to delay its rare earth restrictions for a year, make “substantial” purchases of American farm goods and attempt to curb shipments of fentanyl precursor chemicals to the U.S.
