The Minister of Finance of USA Scott Bessent said today, Sunday (26/10/2025), that he had reached a “very substantial framework” of agreement with its vice president China He Lifeng which would prevent 100% US tariffs on Chinese goods and achieve the suspension of controls on rare earth exports from China.
Bessent said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the framework reached in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will allow President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss further trade cooperation next week.
The agenda will include more balanced trade between the US and China, Chinese purchases of US soybeans and other agricultural products and control of the US fentanyl crisis.
Asked if he expected the US to follow through on its threat of 100% tariffs on Chinese goods, Bessent said: “No, and I also expect that we will get some sort of reprieve on rare earth export controls which the Chinese had discussed”. Besent added that the final terms will be decided by the two leaders.
On the other hand, the head of China’s trade negotiating team, Li Chenggang, said economic officials from China and the US had reached an initial consensus on a range of issues including the extension of their trade truce, fentanyl and export controls.
Li, along with Chinese Vice President He Lifeng, held talks with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on de-escalating the trade war on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.
Lee gave no details on the agreed matters and terms.