President Trump continues to tout loose, verbal agreements as “deals” as he struggles to close negotiations with China.
“OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME. 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 (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!),” the president wrote in all caps Wednesday on Truth Social. “WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!”
While Trump claimed the deal was done, China referred to it as merely a “framework.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went even further, calling it a “handshake for a framework,” that both Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping need to approve.
“Once that’s done, we will be back on the phone together and we will begin to implement this agreement,” Lutnick said. “The two largest economies in the world have reached a handshake for framework.”
Furthermore, this “deal” only revives the agreement the countries made in Switzerland in May that rolled back tariffs for 90 days. And the “rare earths” that Trump claims he’ll be receiving “up front” here will only be available for six months, allowing China to maintain leverage.
“The US & Chinese trade negotiators have negotiated a handshake agreement to seek signoff to agree that a previously-agreed agreement is still their agreed upon agreement. (That agreement is not an agreement but a framework for seeking future agreements),” University of Michigan economics professor Justin Wolfers wrote on X. “Notice that not only are we not getting a better deal, we’re not even getting back to where we were at the start of the Administration.”
The president seems desperate to make this seem like a win. It’s a concept of a idea that, even if finished, will not leave Americans any better off.
The post Trump Says He Has a Deal With China. He Really Doesn’t. appeared first on New Republic.
