<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n
Read More<\/p>\n
The pause buys time for the two countries to work out some of their differences, perhaps clearing the way for a summit later this year between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and it has been welcomed by the U.S. companies doing business with China.<\/p>\n
Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said the extension is \u201ccritical\u201d to give the two governments time to negotiate a trade agreement that U.S. businesses hope would improve their market access in China and provide the certainty needed for companies to make medium- and long-term plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecuring an agreement on fentanyl that leads to a reduction in U.S. tariffs and a rollback of China\u2019s retaliatory measures is acutely needed to restart U.S. agriculture and energy exports,\u201d Stein said.<\/p>\n
China said Tuesday it would extend relief to American companies who were placed on an export control list and an unreliable entities list. After Trump initially announced tariffs in April, China restricted exports of dual-use goods to some American companies, while banning others from trading or investing in China. The Ministry of Commerce said it would stop those restrictions for some companies, while giving others another 90-day extension.<\/p>\n
Reaching a pact with China remains unfinished business for Trump, who has already upended the global trading system by slapping double-digit taxes \u2013 tariffs \u2013 on almost every country on earth.<\/p>\n
The European Union, Japan and other trading partners agreed to lopsided trade deals with Trump, accepting once unthinkably U.S. high tariffs<\/a> (15% on Japanese and EU imports, for instance) to ward off something worse.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s trade policies have turned the United States from one of the most open economies in the world into a protectionist fortress. The average U.S. tariff has gone from around 2.5% at the start of the year to 18.6%, highest since 1933, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.<\/p>\n But China tested the limits of a U.S. trade policy built around using tariffs as a cudgel to beat concessions out of trading partners. Beijing had a cudgel of its own: cutting off or slowing access to its rare earths minerals<\/a> and magnets \u2013 used in everything from electric vehicles to jet engines.<\/p>\n In June, the two countries reached an agreement to ease tensions. The United States said it would pull back export restrictions on computer chip technology and ethane, a feedstock in petrochemical production. And China agreed to make it easier for U.S. firms to get access to rare earths. <\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. has realized it does not have the upper hand,\u2019\u2019 said Claire Reade, senior counsel at Arnold & Porter and former assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs.<\/p>\n In May, the U.S. and China had averted an economic catastrophe by reducing massive tariffs they\u2019d slapped on each other\u2019s products, which had reached as high as 145% against China and 125% against the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n