China will effectively suspend implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminate investigations targeting U.S. companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced, as it outlined some details of the agreement reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea last week. Under the deal, China will issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of U.S. end users and their suppliers around the world”, the White House said, meaning the effective removal of controls China imposed in April 2025 and October 2022. The U.S. will also pause some of Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs on China for an additional year and is halting plans to implement a 100% tariff on Chinese exports to the U.S. that Trump had threatened to impose in November. The White House also said that the U.S. will further extend the expiration of certain Section 301 tariff exclusions, currently due to expire on November 29, 2025, until November 10, 2026. China has also not yet agreed to the U.S. plan to sell ByteDance's TikTok.
The European Union welcomed China’s suspension of expanded rare earth restrictions imposed last month. After a full day of talks last week in Brussels between EU and Chinese trade negotiators, the European Commission described the pause in controls as an “appropriate and responsible step in the context of ensuring stable global trade flows in a critically important area”. Commission Spokesman Olof Gill said that the two sides had “discussed how to maintain supply chain stability in relation to rare earths and committed to further engage on licensing facilitation measures, including general licenses”. EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic confirmed that the pause would benefit Europe, too. “My understanding is that the agreement between the U.S. and China is ‘erga omnes’, so we should apply it to all, including the European Union,” he said.
The U.S. also said that Beijing will take steps to allow the Chinese facilities of Dutch chipmaker Nexperia to resume shipments. This move is likely to ease worries about suspension of chip shipments that had threatened auto production. But Milan Captein, Spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, declined to comment on the reports but said the Ministry was working with Chinese authorities and international partners towards a “constructive resolution that restores balance to the chip supply chain”. China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said it is looking to exempt some Nexperia orders from an export ban that it imposed after the Netherlands seized control of the Chinese-owned Dutch chipmaker. “We will comprehensively consider the actual situation of enterprises and grant exemptions to exports that meet the criteria,” a MOFCOM representative said. About 70% of all Nexperia products are assembled in its factory in Dongguan, Guangdong province, and an export ban prevents foreign companies from acquiring them. Meanwhile, Wingtech Technology, the Chinese owner of Nexperia, has named General Counsel Sophie Shen, 41, a Columbia Law School graduate, as its President, replacing Zhang Qiuhong.
China and the U.S. also announced a one-year suspension of the imposition of port fees on the docking of each other's ships in their harbors. The World Shipping Council was “very encouraged” to hear the news and was looking forward to more specific details, it said.
However, the agreements may only calm tensions in the short term as they are only valid for one year and fail to comprehensively address all of the issues at the heart of the U.S.-China trade fight, and other geopolitical flashpoints such as Taiwan and Russia’s war in Ukraine, the South China Morning Post reports.
