China says it will work with US to resolve TikTok issue
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More news: China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that it had agreed to work with the US to resolve the future of TikTok’s US business, without stating that it had reached an agreement.
A spokesperson for the Ministry outlined a number of arrangements it said were agreed between the Chinese and US trade team during the Kuala Lumpur consultations including:
- The US will remove its 10% ‘fentanyl tariff’ imposed on Chinese goods and the 24% equitable tariff imposed on Chinese goods will be suspended for another year. China will “adjust its countermeasures against the aforementioned US tariffs accordingly”. Both sides also agreed to extend certain tariff exclusions.
- The US will suspend its 50% penetration rule on export controls, announced on 29 September, for one year. China will suspend its related export control measures announced on 9 October for one year and will study and refine specific plans.
- The US will suspend section 301 investigations against China's maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding industries for one year. Once the US suspends the measures China will follow suit and pause its countermeasures against the US for one year.
Additionally, the spokesperson said both sides reached consensus on issues such as cooperation in fentanyl control and expanding agricultural trade.
Both sides “further affirmed the outcomes of the Madrid trade consultations”, and Beijing said that it agreed “to work with the US to properly resolve issues related to TikTok”, without providing specifics.
The comments stopped short of stating that the countries have agreed to a deal on the future of the social media giant. In September, Trump signed an executive order approving the sale of TikTok’s US operations from Chinese parent company ByteDance to a group of primarily American investors. The order follows a 2024 law that requires ByteDance to divest TikTok’s American business or face a ban, which was passed to address national security concerns about data privacy and potential Chinese influence.
Trump claims end to China’s rare earth ‘roadblock’ after Xi meeting
The news: The US will sign a trade deal with China “pretty soon”, according to President Donald Trump, who said the rare earth restrictions announced by China were “settled”.
The context: Speaking to reporters on Air Force One following a roughly 90-minute meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping, Trump said he had “an amazing meeting”.
He also added that “all of the rare earth [issue] is settled, and that’s for the world” and that “there’s no roadblock from China anymore”.
Officials from the two countries had agreed to a framework for a trade deal ahead of the meeting, which seems to have now been largely formalised. This included an expectation that China would delay the imposition of a strict new rare earth export licensing regime by a year.
Trump also said that the US would immediately halve tariffs related to the flow of fentanyl-related products.
As previously announced, China had also resumed buying large quantities of US soybeans under the initial framework.
What they said: “I guess, on the scale from zero to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was at a 12,” Trump said.
“You know, just the whole relationship is very, very important. I think it was very good.”
The sources: Bloomberg, Bloomberg , BBC News, China Ministry of Commerce
