New Delhi: US President Donald Trump Wednesday said a “deal” with China is done and relations between the two largest economies are “excellent”. This deal will allow for the export of critical minerals from Beijing to Washington DC following two days of intense negotiations between their respective officials in London.
The deal will also allow Chinese students continued access to elite American universities, following threats from the Trump administration to curb their admissions.
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick had earlier late Tuesday evening said that the two sides had agreed to put the “meat on the bones” on the framework agreed to last month in Geneva to eventually reduce the reciprocal tariffs imposed by Washington DC and Beijing on one another.
The bilateral tariffs imposed on imports to the US from China crossed 100 percent on goods, following Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” first announced on 2 April. The tit-for-tat trade war had led to both governments agreeing to a framework to reduce tariffs last month.
Donald J. Trump Truth Social 06.11.25 08:04 AM EST pic.twitter.com/rvtM7xSPSn
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) June 11, 2025
However, China continued to impose curbs on the exports of critical minerals and technologies to the US, which led to Washington imposing its own curbs on exports of certain goods such as semiconductors to Beijing.
The deal struck in London will see the withdrawal of these curbs in a “balanced way” according to Lutnick. However, the details of the deal have yet to be made public.
Minutes after his first statement, Trump in another post on the social media platform added: “President XI and I are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade. This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!”
The current round of talks in London came after Trump and the President of China Xi Jinping held a call last week.
“The two sides need to make good use of the economic and trade consultation mechanism already in place, and seek win-win results in the spirit of equality and respect for each other’s concerns,” Xi is said to have told Trump during the call, according to the Chinese readout.
The 90-minute call between the two leaders last week was the first between the two since Trump returned to the White House in January, reported The New York Times.
“The two sides reached principled agreement on implementing the important consensus reached by the two heads of state during their phone call on June 5 and the framework of measures to consolidate the outcomes of the economic and trade talks in Geneva, and made new progress in addressing each other’s economic and trade concerns,” the Chinese readout of the talks in London said, as published by Xinhua.
The US delegation consisted of Lutnick, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. China was represented by Vice Premier He Lifeng, who is in charge of economic policy.
The deal, if agreed to by both leaders, could see some normalisation in the export of critical minerals from China to the US, which is a key part of the manufacturing of most modern technologies.
After Trump’s original tariffs on China touched 145 per cent a few months ago, Beijing instituted curbs on the exports of such goods, given its strong hold on the supply of critical minerals and magnets in the global market.
The US in retaliation also highlighted a potential ban of Chinese students from studying at American universities.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: Trump’s flip-flop to China’s aggression—What’s bringing India and Australia closer