The US and China pushed pause on trade fights again stretching their temporary deal another 90 days to dodge new tariffs kicking in both sides announced Monday President Trump signed paperwork keeping existing duties frozen at 30% on Chinese imports through November 10 while China holds its 10% charges on American stuff


Earlier threats had both countries talking way higher numbers like 145% tariffs from Washington and 125% retaliatory hits from Beijing things cooled after May meetings in Geneva though White House folks say they need more time to work on trade gaps and practices they call unfair pointing out that 2024s US-China trade deficit hit nearly 300 billion


Big topics theyre still wrestling with better access for US companies selling overseas national security stuff keeping chip supplies stable worldwide Chinese embassy reps keep pushing cooperation over conflict telling America to drop what they see as unfair trade blocks


Businesses arent exactly breathing easy Busy Babys founder Beth Benike says planning gets impossible when you cant predict pricing Trade wars blew up this spring after Trump slapped heavy tariffs across the board China fired back hard almost freezing trade until May brought some rollbacks


Now negotiators are also tackling Americas push for Chinas rare earth minerals how Chinas buying Russian oil plays into things and tech export controls especially around advanced chips Washington recently loosened some chip rules letting AMD and Nvidia sell certain products there if they cut Uncle Sam in on 15% of sales The TikTok split from ByteDance demand stays sticky though with Beijing against it


Even with the pause trade keeps slipping Junes US imports from China dropped nearly half compared to same month last year First half of 2025 numbers show 165 billion in American buys from China down 15% yearly while US exports east dropped 20%