US and China extend Busan trade truce to January as Xi arrives for Trump summit
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Washington and Beijing have agreed to extend the Busan trade agreement until 10 January, hours after marathon talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and just as Xi Jinping arrives in the US for a summit with Donald Trump.
The United States and China have agreed to extend their trade truce — the so-called Busan agreement — until 10 January, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday, hours after he met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Washington.
“We have agreed today that we will extend what we call the Busan Agreement,” Bessent told Fox News’ “Special Report”, Reuters reported. “That is going to be extended until January 10th to give us more time to see what we can do on the economic front,” he added, according to Free Malaysia Today.
The truce, agreed by Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping last October, had been due to expire on 10 November. Under the arrangement, the US halved its fentanyl-related tariff to 10%, while China suspended rare-earth export curbs and committed to large soybean purchases.
The announcement followed marathon talks between Bessent and He on Sunday at JPMorgan’s offices in New York and again on Wednesday at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, the South China Morning Post reported. China floated a “bigger deal” on Sunday, and Bessent said Washington was open either to that or to continuing the Busan arrangement. Bessent also flagged the possibility of cutting tariffs on $30bn of non-sensitive goods.
The timing is pointed: the announcement landed just as Xi arrived in the United States for a summit with Trump on Thursday. It also contrasted sharply with remarks by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Monday, who blamed China for limiting rare-earth exports and had ruled out announcing an extension during the summit.
Sources
- Reuters — “US, China agree to extend ‘the Busan agreement’ until January, Bessent says” (23 Sept 2026): https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-china-agree-extend-the-busan-agreement-until-january-bessent-says-2026-09-23/
- South China Morning Post — “Bessent announces 2-month extension of Busan trade deal with China” (23 Sept 2026): https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3368555/bessent-and-he-meet-again-tackle-some-unfinished-business-xi-summit-nears
- Free Malaysia Today — “US to extend China trade truce until January” (24 Sept 2026): https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/business/2026/09/24/us-to-extend-china-trade-truce-until-january
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