President Donald Trump declared a trade deal between the U.S. and China ‘done’ and announced new rare earth minerals he said would be coming into the U.S. from its top trade competitor.
‘Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me,’ Trump posted Wednesday morning. ‘Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China.’
He also said Chinese students would continue ‘using our colleges and universities,’ something he said has ‘always been good with me’ despite his administration’s crackdown on foreign students at top universities.
He said the U.S. is ‘getting a total of 55 percent tariffs from China,’ without further explanation, and that the U.S. would face a 10 percent tariff from Beijing.
That keeps in place tariffs between the two countries that are at historically high levels, an indication that the matter is still not settled.
Trump’s morning post came before markets opened in New York, and followed trade negotiators announcing they had agreed on a framework following mutli-day talks in London.
President Donald Trump announced a trade deal between the U.S. and China ‘done’, while also calling it ‘subject to final approval’
“First we had to get sort of the negativity out and now we can go forward,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters.
The prospect of new trade structure for the world’s top two economic powers was expected to send markets soaring, although Wall Street traders have been honing their ways to gauge responses to Trump’s topsy-turvy pronouncements on trade and tariffs.
Weeks ago Trump exploded at a reporter who asked him about the ‘TACO trade,’ which stands for ‘Trump Always Chickens Out.’
In the case of what he announced on China, it appears Trump secured access for rare earth minerals he prizes – although some have been identified as being extracted through forced labor of oppressed minorities in China’s far-western Xinjiang province.
Titanium, lithium – which is critical to batteries – beryllium, and magnesium are among the products considered vital to manufacturing and products.
Trump’s announcement came on a day when the government announced the Consumer Price Index rose 2.4 percent in May, following a 2.3 percent increase in April.
Trump’s post follows an announcement by U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators that they have reached agreement on a framework
Trump weighed in hours after negotiators announced a breakthrough from talks in London
Trump set off trade wars with nations around the globe with his ‘reciprocal’ tariffs. Some of the U.S. tariffs on China date from his first term
The numbers reflected the inflationary impact of Trump’s tariffs, which are a tax on imports, but analysts aren’t seeing the signs of runaway inflation that could rock the markets. So-called ‘core’ inflation, which excludes volatile commodities, was at 2.8 percent.
Trump’s post that he was ‘always good’ with Chinese students clashes with a crackdown in his administration.
Under a policy announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the administration announced an ‘aggressive’ move against Chinese students, ‘including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.’
‘We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong,’ Rubio said.
Educational ties between the two countries date to the reopening of China and President Jimmy Carter’s invitation to thousands of them to study here. U.S. colleges and universities, meanwhile, have become increasingly reliant on the higher tuition rates paid by foreign students to balance the books.
Four international students from the University of Iowa are suing the feds over the policy.
Trump announced the breakthrough after after returning to the White House from a trip to Fort Bragg