https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-china-2672360236/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/27/trump-says-us-has-signed-trade-deal-with-china
Trump will tout everything he does as supreme, the greatest ever. Every move is a triumph, a victory - but he's saying very little about the trade deal with China. For all the noise he made about China, his tariff plan, and all the rest, one would think he would want to trumpet this 'success'. And yet like his plan to annex Greenland - he's moved on it would seem.
There are still rumblings and a planned summit in the fall with Xi Jinping and yet the fact that Trump doesn't want to talk about this deal (even if it's a kind of Phase 1) indicates it's something he doesn't want examined too closely.
Long-time Trump followers are used to this. On repeated occasions over the decades he has sat in a negotiating room, made a fool of himself, been taken to the cleaners (as they say) and yet walks out bragging about he triumphed. A true sociopath and megalomaniac if ever there was one.
The bottom line is the United States needs rare earth minerals and so they have removed restrictions placed on China in order to get them.
Trump has pivoted to new tariffs on Canada and other US allies - an attempt at distraction just like the sudden release of Martin Luther King Jr. documents. Outlets like the BBC have chosen at this time to run hit pieces against China and the environmental devastation caused by such mining and processing and its outsourcing of rare earth production to Myanmar which is torn apart by civil war. Beijing is cutting deals with rebel warlords and Burmese secessionists - undoubtedly creating conditions akin to the Congo - which is another situation that Trump has sought to exploit.
His envoys have fostered a deal between Kinshasa and Rwanda - even while no one will formally admit the M23 militias are Rwandan proxies. Washington negotiated a stand-down but to Washington's benefit as it has now secured trading rights to many of the rare earths in the region. The episode also demonstrates that Rwanda all along has been the proxy that many suspected. The US could pull the plug on Kagame at any time and he would back down.
It would seem that the China 'deal' is really nothing more than a roll back to the status quo found in the spring - in particular the time of the Geneva talks in May. Everything took yet another bad turn after that and the 'deal' is essentially a walk-back to that earlier point. This is why Trump doesn't really want to make a lot of noise about this. It's hardly a victory. The Chinese for their part say the deal is really nothing more than an agreed upon framework for the implementation of future agreements - which given the fact that the details are still being negotiated and Trump has even set a mid-August deadline, the claim is true. If this was better understood, Trump could be accused of not just exaggerating but lying. But given this is characteristic of Trump - it's hardly news.
And worse, some readings suggest that Trump actually backed down, made concessions to China as far as US restrictions and with regard to issues such as the harassment of Chinese students. Even this hasn't gone well as China is holding US federal employee and banker by means of an exit ban.
Beijing will resume selling rare earths but with a caveat - it will review and approve applications for the export control items that meet the requirements in accordance with the law.
That's certainly open to interpretation and yet it sounds like it leaves Beijing holding the cards.
Trump is still pressing for a high-level meeting with Xi. Washington has already insulted some of the Beijing officialdom. Trump likes the face-to-face meetings with national leaders and yet for all the grandstanding associated with Trump, his efforts from both the first administration and thus far during the second have amounted to almost nothing. The one possible exception would be his meetings with bin-Salman but it's clear the Saudi crown prince is also pursuing his own interests in joining the SCO and flirting with BRICS membership - and by some estimations using this 'threat' as a means to extract concessions from the Trump administration during the president's May 2025 visit. The Saudis have all but carved out their own space, doing business with Washington even while aligning with the two strategic and financial organisations meant to counter NATO and the G7 - key structures of US imperialism. Trump did score with massive arms sales during his trip to the Gulf, as well as deals for Boeing aircraft - so essential to the US economy. However the Israeli-focus of the so-called Abraham accords fell back into the shadows and while the US is eager to move on with regard to Syria and lifted its sanctions on its ex-al Qaeda frontman al-Sharaa, the issue has driven a wedge between Washington and Tel Aviv as Israel is less than pleased and as such continues to strike at the new regime.
Trump's sycophants make much of his ability to deal but I'm reminded of a Right-wing hit piece against Obama in 2012 - a book called The Amateur. It perfectly describes Trump as leader, governor, diplomat, and negotiator.
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