President Donald Trump announced Wednesday morning, June 11, 2025, that a U.S.-China trade agreement has been reached in principle, describing it as a “done” deal, though he noted it still requires final approval from both himself and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The announcement followed two days of intensive negotiations in London between high-level delegations from both countries, culminating late Tuesday night in what officials are calling a “framework deal” intended to de-escalate the ongoing trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies.
The London talks marked the second round of high-level engagement since the initial Geneva meeting in May, where both nations agreed to suspend some of the steep retaliatory tariffs that had defined their trade standoff. Without formal ratification of the new agreement, those tariffs — the most severe ever imposed are set to return on July 9.
Despite earlier optimism from the Geneva accord, tensions had continued to rise. In recent weeks, Beijing halved its exports of rare earth minerals to the U.S., while Washington began revoking visas for Chinese students linked to the Chinese Communist Party measures that underscored the fragile state of bilateral relations.
Though Tuesday’s announcement lacked specific details, President Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday morning to affirm the deal: “It was ‘done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me.’” He explained that under the current framework, China will retain a 10% tariff on U.S. goods, while the U.S. will maintain a 55% tariff on Chinese imports.
“President XI and I are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade,” Trump added in a follow-up post. “This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!”
As of Wednesday, the Chinese government had not officially confirmed the agreement or indicated whether President Xi would sign off on the terms. Chinese state media reported that “the delegations had made new progress,” but did not elaborate.
In the earlier Geneva negotiations, both countries had agreed to pause their aggressive tariff hikes for 90 days. U.S. import tariffs on Chinese goods dropped from 145% to the current 30%, while Chinese tariffs fell from 125% to 10%.
Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang, who participated in the London discussions, said Tuesday that both sides had agreed to the framework “in principle.”
Speaking to reporters after the sessions, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick highlighted the significance of the talks. “The framework deal puts meat on the bones of an agreement reached last month in Geneva to ease bilateral retaliatory tariffs,” he said. The meetings spanned over six hours on Monday and more than twelve hours into Tuesday night.
Lutnick added that one key objective was to eliminate the lingering hostility since the Geneva talks: “Now we can go forward to try to do positive trade, growing trade.”
A central issue in the negotiations was the trade of rare earth elements, vital for industries such as defense, electric vehicles, aerospace, and electronics.
On Wednesday, Trump emphasized the importance of this in a capital-letter post on Truth Social: “Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities.” He concluded by stating: “Relationship is excellent!”
Commenting on the deal’s stakes, Carl Weinberg, Chief Economist at High Frequency Economics, warned in a note to investors: “A ‘fail’ would raise the risk of auto and aircraft production grinding to a halt as soon as next month. If that happens, economic growth will be severely dented for an unknown term.”
