The US and China are extending their trade truce by two months, to Jan. 10, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after an unscheduled meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Washington. The truce comes from the deal Presidents Trump and Xi reached in Busan last October.
Any importer placing orders in China for spring delivery now buys against a Jan. 10 deadline, four weeks before Lunar New Year on Feb. 6.
Two parts of the Busan deal touch freight and factory inputs directly, per a White House summary:
China suspended the rare-earth export controls it announced last October and issued general licenses for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite.
Both countries suspended the port fees each had placed on the other’s ships for a year from last November. Farm exporters estimated the US fees on Chinese-built vessels would add $600 to $900 a container.
“There are some deliverables that have not been perfect on the Chinese side,” Bessent said, per NBC News. He said Washington wants China to carry out the agreement more fully over the coming months.
The two sides have moved the deadline before, extending an earlier 90-day tariff pause last August and then setting a one-year term at Busan.
US goods imports from China totaled $156 billion from January to July, fourth behind Mexico, Canada and Taiwan, per Census data. China was the largest source as recently as 2022.
Xi’s state visit to Washington runs through Friday. Bessent said he is open to continuing the Busan arrangement or working toward a larger deal.
