This week, the United States and China continued to take action on commitments made during the leaders’ meeting in October.
The United States and China are both taking concrete steps to implement the stability measures discussed by President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping in South Korea last month.
The White House on Saturday published a fact sheet outlining the main components of the consensus reached between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea last week. The document reaffirms commitments reported after the leaders’ meeting.
Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on Thursday met in South Korea for their first in-person engagement of Trump’s second term. Trump called it a “truly great” meeting and emphasized the “enormous respect” between the United States and China. He fashioned the commitments made during the meeting as a one-year deal that the countries will re-negotiate annually.
Bilateral tensions flared over the weekend after China announced new export controls on rare earth elements. The move was a response to the Commerce Department’s “50% rule,” which was released late last month and dramatically expanded the number of Chinese firms on the Entity List.
The Senate on Thursday passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2026. The new version includes several China provisions that were excluded from the package offered in mid-September. The bill now moves forward to conference with the House, which passed its version earlier in September.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security on Tuesday published an interim final rule broadening the reach of its export controls blacklist. Under the new provision, any entity that is at least 50% owned by one or more entities on the list will itself automatically be subject to Entity List restrictions.
Senior executives of USCBC member companies on Thursday met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in New York. Members discussed market access issues and the need for a level playing field and predictable, stable business environment for US companies in China. They also highlighted the importance of ongoing dialogue between senior US and Chinese leaders.
Top US and Chinese trade officials met in Madrid earlier this week, with TikTok the center of discussions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer led the US delegation, while Vice Premier He Lifeng and Li Chenggang, China’s chief trade negotiator, led the Chinese side.
Trump issued an executive order last Friday modifying the scope of his reciprocal tariffs to expand exemptions for trading partners. It adds to the list of products exempted from these tariffs due their being impacted by pending or future Section 232 actions — such as certain critical minerals, chemicals, and solar cells — while removing other products like silicon, resin, and aluminum.
