Mainbrace-Jan-2026 - single_pages | Page 9

In late October, President Donald Trump embarked on a weeklong tour of Asia and returned having secured a temporary truce in the U. S.-China trade war, and a number of economic deals with Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

These deals demonstrate not only a strengthening of trade and investment ties between the United States and Asia, but also underscore the need for companies to track diplomatic developments that may impact their supply chains, especially those for sensitive technologies and scarce resources.

Washington and Beijing Negotiate Yearlong Trade Truce After months of escalating trade tensions, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in South Korea to negotiate a trade détente. While the two sides did not ink a formal trade deal, Washington and Beijing agreed to temporarily pause certain tit-for-tat countermeasures imposed in recent months.

In particular, China’ s Ministry of Commerce(“ MOFCOM”) confirmed that Beijing would:

• adjust its retaliatory tariff measures and extend certain tariff exclusions for U. S. imports into China;

• suspend, for a period of one year, new export restrictions on the export of rare earths and permanent magnets( during the suspension, China will“ study and refine specific plans” to later implement such export controls);

• suspend, for a period of one year, port fees on American-owned,-operated, and / or-built ships;

• cooperate on anti-fentanyl trafficking efforts;

• expand agricultural trade with the United States; and

•“ properly resolve TikTok-related issues” with Washington.

Notably, a White House Fact Sheet— released after President Trump returned to the United States— suggests that China will also:

• issue general licenses for exports of gallium, germanium, antimony, and graphite to U. S. end users and suppliers;

• remove( or suspend the addition of) certain U. S. companies to China’ s end user and unreliable entity lists;

• terminate its concurrent antidumping and anti-discrimination investigations into U. S. chips and chip policy, respectively; and

• allow Nexperia, a Chinese-owned chip company headquartered in the Netherlands( subject to a recent takeover by the Dutch government), to export legacy chips worldwide.

In exchange for the above, the United States agreed to:

• lower fentanyl trafficking-related tariffs on Chinese imports from 20 percent to 10 percent, beginning November 10, 2025;

• maintain the 10 percent“ reciprocal” tariff rate applicable to Chinese-origin goods through November 10, 2026;

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