U.S. pork exports to China in the first seven months of the year were down 13%, largely due to retaliatory tariffs. Last week in the Republic of Korea, President Donald J. Trump reached a trade and economic deal with President Xi Jinping of China that includes suspending retaliatory tariffs set in March.
This historic agreement includes Chinese commitments to halt the flow of precursors used to make fentanyl into the U.S., effectively eliminate China’s current and proposed export controls on rare earth elements and other critical minerals, end Chinese retaliation against U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and other major U.S. companies and open China’s market to U.S. soybeans and other agricultural exports.
“In a win for U.S. agriculture and America’s pork producers, China has suspended its retaliatory tariffs set in March,” says National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) president Duane Stateler, an Ohio pork producer. “We are very pleased to see the Trump administration answer the widespread call of agriculture, including persistent requests from the National Pork Producers Council, to negotiate for tariff removal and allow business with China to return to a more market-driven norm unburdened by these costly taxes.”
The U.S. Meat Export Federation said in a statement on Monday that they are encouraged by the progress being made in trade negotiations with China, and appreciate the Trump administration’s emphasis on restoring market access for U.S. agricultural exports.
“If China follows through on its commitment to suspend all retaliatory tariffs announced since March 4, and to suspend or remove all retaliatory non-tariff countermeasures taken since that date, this puts U.S. pork in a much more competitive position in the Chinese market,” USMEF president and CEO Dan Halstrom said in a statement. “If the removal of non-tariff barriers means that China will promptly renew the U.S. beef plant and cold storage registrations it has allowed to expire over the past nine months, this will restore access to a critical beef export market. China’s recent delisting of some U.S. beef plants for technical violations is also a retaliatory measure that must be addressed. We are anxious to see further details on these issues.”
Here’s a look at the actions that have been agreed to by China and the U.S., acccording to Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Strikes Deal on Economic and Trade Relations with China:
CHINESE ACTIONS:
- China will suspend the global implementation of the expansive new export controls on rare earths and related measures that it announced on Oct. 9.
- China will issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite for the benefit of U.S. end users and their suppliers around the world. The general license means the de facto removal of controls China imposed in April 2025 and October 2022.
- China will take significant measures to end the flow of fentanyl to the U.S. Specifically, China will stop the shipment of certain designated chemicals to North America and strictly control exports of certain other chemicals to all destinations in the world.
- China will suspend all of the retaliatory tariffs that it has announced since March 4, 2025. This includes tariffs on a vast swath of U.S. agricultural products: chicken, wheat, corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables and dairy products.
- China will suspend or remove all of the retaliatory non-tariff countermeasures taken against the U.S. since March 4, including China’s listing of certain American companies on its end user and unreliable entity lists.
- China will purchase at least 12 million metric tons (MMT) of U.S. soybeans during the last two months of 2025 and also purchase at least 25 MMT of U.S. soybeans in each of 2026, 2027, and 2028. Additionally, China will resume purchases of U.S. sorghum and hardwood logs.
- China will take appropriate measures to ensure the resumption of trade from Nexperia’s facilities in China, allowing production of critical legacy chips to flow to the rest of the world.
- China will remove measures it took in retaliation for the U.S.’s announcement of a Section 301 investigation on China’s Targeting the Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance, and remove sanctions imposed on various shipping entities.
- China will further extend the expiration of its market-based tariff exclusion process for imports from the U.S. and exclusions will remain valid until Dec. 31, 2026.
- China will terminate its various investigations targeting U.S. companies in the semiconductor supply chain, including its antitrust, anti-monopoly, and anti-dumping investigations.
AMERICAN ACTIONS:
- The U.S. will lower the tariffs on Chinese imports imposed to curb fentanyl flows by removing 10 percentage points of the cumulative rate, effective Nov. 10, and will maintain its suspension of heightened reciprocal tariffs on Chinese imports until November 10, 2026. (The current 10% reciprocal tariff will remain in effect during this suspension period.)
- The U.S. will further extend the expiration of certain Section 301 tariff exclusions, currently due to expire on November 29, 2025, until Nov. 10, 2026.
- The U.S. will suspend for one year, starting on Nov. 10, the implementation of the interim final rule titled Expansion of End-User Controls to Cover Affiliates of Certain Listed Entities.
- The U.S. will suspend for one year, starting on Nov. 10, implementation of the responsive actions taken pursuant to the Section 301 investigation on China’s Targeting the Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance. In the meantime, the U.S. will negotiate with China pursuant to Section 301 while continuing its historic cooperation with the Republic of Korea and Japan on revitalizing American shipbuilding.
