With the United States and China striking what the White House has called a “historic” agreement, trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies – after months of simmering – appear to be entering a phase of de-escalation.
The White House released a fact sheet over the weekend, which provides fresh details on what was agreed after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met last week. China’s commerce ministry had previously released a brief statement outlining the agreement on the day of the meeting.
Here, the Post explores what the fact sheet has revealed about the commitments made by the US and Chinese sides and how analysts have reacted to the agreement.
What has China agreed to?
According to the White House fact sheet, Beijing will “issue general licences valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers around the world”.
The move amounted to a “de facto removal of controls China imposed in April 2025 and October 2022”, the document stated. The issuing of general licences was not mentioned in the statement from China’s commerce ministry.
The fact sheet added that China would suspend its recently announced expansion of rare earth export controls. China’s commerce ministry said in its statement that the controls would be suspended for one year.
Beijing will buy at least 12 million tonnes (13.2 million tons) of US soybeans during the last two months of 2025 and a minimum of 25 million tonnes annually for the next three years, according to the fact sheet. China’s commerce ministry said both sides had reached a consensus on agricultural purchases, but gave no details.
The proposals also called for maintaining a “reasonable” share of manufacturing in the economy while building a “unified domestic market” to underpin a new growth model. The central government vowed to tighten oversight of local economic initiatives, curb “race-to-the-bottom” competition and improve frameworks to evaluate performance, fiscal policy, statistics and benefit-sharing to support greater market integration.
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