Trump says U.S.-China trade deal is “done,” pending final sign-off With Xi

President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared that a new trade agreement between the United States and China is “done,” though final approval from Chinese President Xi Jinping is still pending. The announcement followed two days of intense negotiations between senior trade officials from both nations in London.

“Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me,” Trump said in an all-caps post on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded. “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.”

According to Trump, the agreement will preserve a 10 per cent tariff on U.S. goods entering China, while Chinese imports to the United States will continue to face a 55 per cent tariff. The White House has not yet released a formal statement, and Beijing has not confirmed the terms or indicated whether Xi will endorse the agreement.

The deal, referred to as a “framework” by negotiators, comes after marathon sessions in London that ran into the early hours of Wednesday. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the negotiations were aimed at salvaging momentum from a May agreement in Geneva, where both sides agreed to pause further tariff escalation for 90 days.

“In Geneva, we agreed to stop the bleeding,” Lutnick said. “In London, we’ve put some real structure in place. Now we can go forward to try to do positive trade, growing trade.”

The talks come amid heightened tensions. In the weeks since the Geneva pact, China halved its exports of rare earth elements to the U.S., prompting concerns in Washington over supply chain vulnerabilities. In response, the Trump administration warned it would revoke visas for Chinese students linked to the Chinese Communist Party.

Rare earths—including industrial magnets—are critical to manufacturing sectors such as defense, electric vehicles, and advanced electronics. The upfront supply commitment from Beijing, if fulfilled, would offer short-term relief to U.S. manufacturers whose inventories are rapidly depleting.

“At stake is the release of rare earths exports to U.S. manufacturers—stockpiles are dwindling fast—in exchange for aerospace parts and semiconductor programming technology to China,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. “A ‘fail’ would raise the risk of auto and aircraft production grinding to a halt as soon as next month. If that happens, economic growth will be severely dented for an unknown term.”

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Xi’s final approval, Trump struck an optimistic tone: “Relationship is excellent!” he wrote.

For now, markets and manufacturers await confirmation from Beijing as the July 9 deadline of the tariff pause approaches