Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping struck the biggest US-China trade concession since 2018-2019 at their September 24 summit, agreeing to cut tariffs across 134 product categories worth $30 billion, with rates dropping from a 15-45% range down to 5-15%. The deal covers goods from farm products and aircraft components to toys and small appliances.
Beyond trade, Beijing pledged to buy $12 billion in additional US agricultural products over the next year and to import 10 million metric tons of American coal in both 2027 and 2028. The two sides also launched a joint working group on AI safety standards and agreed to set up a bilateral trade council.
Markets welcomed the thaw: the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.8%, while Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft each gained 2-3% in afternoon trading. The agreement marks a sharp reversal from Trump's earlier skepticism toward US-China AI cooperation.