Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have agreed to a one-year pause on punitive tariffs introduced by Trump that are at the heart of the ongoing trade war between the two superpowers. Among the issues discussed during their face-to-face meeting in the South Korean city of Busan were China’s grip on rare earth metals and export restrictions on NVIDIA’s artificial intelligence chips.
Trump had previously made particularly explosive threats that he would impose new 100% tariffs on imports from China in retaliation for Xi’s tightening grip on rare earths, the processing of which is almost entirely controlled by China. These materials are essential to making everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to military equipment. Under the temporary truce (for now), China reportedly agreed to suspend new measures for the next 12 months in exchange for Trump cutting Chinese tariffs by 10%.
According to The New York TimesTrump said he discussed semiconductors during his talks with Xi and “did not rule out” the possibility of allowing NVIDIA to sell AI chips to China. The U.S. company was allowed to resume sales of its H20 chips in China in July after an initial ban earlier in the year, but Beijing reportedly responded by ordering its biggest tech companies not to do business until a national security review was completed. The executives did not discuss the possible availability of Blackwell chips – NVIDIA’s most advanced AI chip to date, currently in development and perhaps a motivating factor in China’s apparent indifference to the H20 architecture – during their meeting in South Korea.
There has also been no resolution on TikTok and its future in the United States. The latest news is that the Trump administration has claimed to be close to a deal that would see the United States acquire a majority stake in the Chinese social media giant where it operates on its territory, but nothing has been finalized at the time of writing.
