China to ease chip export ban in new trade deal, White House says
The White House said China will begin easing its export ban on automotive computer chips that are vital for car production worldwide as part of a trade deal reached between the United States and China.
The White House confirmed details of the agreement in a new memo after Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met in South Korea this week.
The countries also reached agreements on US soybean exports, supplies of rare earth minerals and materials used in the production of the drug fentanyl.
The deal eases a trade war between the world’s two largest economies after Trump imposed tariffs on China after taking office this year, sparking retaliatory tariffs and global trade uncertainty.
Much of the information in Saturday’s memo was released by Trump and other officials after the meeting. between two leaders.
Trump described the talks in South Korea as “astonishing,” while Beijing said they reached consensus to resolve “major trade issues” but did not immediately release details of the agreement.
Speaking after the memo was released on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN: “We don’t want to leave China… (But) they have shown themselves to be an unreliable partner.”
One of the issues discussed in the agreement was the export of automotive computer chips. There were concerns that a shortage of chips from Nexperia, which has manufacturing facilities in China, could create global supply chain problems.
Nexperia is a Chinese company but headquartered in the Netherlands. Approximately 70% of Nexperia chips produced in Europe are shipped to China for completion and re-exported to other countries.
The fact sheet states that China will “take appropriate measures to ensure the resumption of trade from Nexperia’s facilities in China and allow production of critical legacy chips to flow to the rest of the world.”
This comes after Beijing said on Saturday it was considering an exemption Some companies banned.
Last month, companies such as Volvo Cars and Volkswagen warned that chip shortages could lead to temporary closures of their plants, and Jaguar Land Rover said the chip shortage was a threat to its business.
In other important matters, Beijing will now pause for a year the export controls it imposed last month on rare earth minerals vital for the production of cars, planes and weapons.
The White House also said it would reduce tariffs imposed to prevent fentanyl imports into the United States and that China would agree to take “significant actions” to deal with the problem.
Fentanyl is a synthetic drug produced from a combination of chemicals, and although it is approved for medical use in the United States, the powerful and highly addictive substance has since become the main drug responsible for opioid overdose deaths in the United States.
Chemicals used in its production, some of which have legal uses, mostly comes from china.
On soybeans, China has committed to purchasing 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in the last two months of 2025 and 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in each of the next three years; this is roughly at the level it was before.
China’s decision earlier this year to stop buying U.S. soybeans has denied American farmers access to its largest export markets.
In response to this, Trump Revived bailout package for farmers was present during his first term in office.
