LONDON and HONG KONG — President Donald Trump said a trade deal with China “is done, subject to final approval.”
“Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me,” Trump said on Truth Social, adding that the relationship between the world’s two leading economic powerhouses was “excellent.”
Trump said that the U.S. would get “a total of 55% tariffs” with China’s tariffs set at 10%.
Trump 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!).”
Chinese state media had earlier Wednesday reported that the countries had agreed to a trade “framework” during talks in London. China didn’t immediately release additional details.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick late on Tuesday referred to it as a “handshake for a framework.” Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping will now have to approve the framework, Lutnick said. That step would appear to mean there were some concessions that both leaders did not give their negotiating teams authority to negotiate away.
“Once that’s done, we will be back on the phone together and we will begin to implement this agreement,” Lutnick said. “The two largest economies in the world have reached a handshake for framework.”
The two days of talks in London followed the first round of talks in Geneva and a phone call between Trump and Xi, all of which followed Trump’s implementation of higher tariffs on Chinese imports.
Vice Premier He Lifeng, the leader of China’s delegation, said that disputes between the two should be resolved through “equal dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation,” according to Xinhua News Agency, a state-affiliated wire service.
He reportedly employed slightly stronger language, lecturing the American delegation, according to a Chinese-language news story.
“There is no winner in a trade war,” He reportedly said. “China doesn’t want to fight, but it is not afraid of fighting.”
