US says trade truce with China extended till Jan. 10, 2027, ahead of Trump-Xi meet

The US and China have agreed to extend their trade truce till Jan. 10, 2027, as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington, DC for a third summit with US President Donald Trump on Sept. 24-25, the US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent said while interacting with the media.

The two countries had agreed to pause tariff hikes until Nov. 10, 2026, following the summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on Oct. 30, 2025.

"We will extend the Busan agreement that was scheduled to end Nov. 10. That is going to be extended until Jan. 10 to give us more time to see what we can do on the economic front," Bessent said.

Bessent also said that he is hopeful of China achieving its commitments regarding purchases from the US and investing in the US.

"We are going to see some announcements of financial services and agricultural purchases.

The Chinese have been very good thus far in meeting their obligations. They have agreed to buy 25 million tons of soybeans, and they have been fulsome in those. They have about $17 billion of other agricultural commitments that we think they are a little behind schedule on, and we are encouraging them to pick those up," Bessent added.

This comes after China's commerce ministry said that China and the US agreed to discuss a framework to reduce reciprocal tariffs on certain products and resolve non-tariff barriers.

China levies a 10% reciprocal tariff on certain US-origin products in response to US import duties on Chinese goods.

China imposes a total import duty of 13% on US soybeans, including an additional 10% levy on top of the 3% most-favored-nation tariff. In comparison, Brazilian soybeans face only the 3% MFN duty.

China had agreed to purchase 25 million metric tons of soybeans from the US annually from 2026 through 2028, following the Busan summit, and resumed purchasing US-origin soybeans in October 2025, following a five-month halt amid escalating tariff conflicts.

In May 2026, during the second bilateral meeting between Trump and Xi in Beijing, China committed to purchasing $17 billion worth of farm and food commodities from the US annually from 2026 to 2028.

So far in marketing year 2026-27 (September-August), China has committed to purchase 9.969 million mt of soybeans from the US, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

During MY 2025-26, US soybean exports fell 18.2% year over year due to lower shipments to China, according to USDA data. US soybean sales to China in MY 2025-26 were down 45% year over year at 12.8 million mt.

As of Sept. 17, 2026, the US sold 7,300 mt of beef in MY 2026 (January-December), compared with 35,000 mt of beef in the same period in MY 2025, USDA data showed.

In MY 2025, the US exported 35,362 mt of beef to China, down 73.6% year over year, the USDA data showed.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed the SOYBEX China CFR flat price at $599.17/mt Sept. 23, down $2.29/mt day over day.

Platts assessed US SOYBEX FOB at $528.37/mt Sept. 23, down $4.6/mt day over day.

Platts assessed 90 CL beef CIF US at $7,003/mt Sept. 23, and 95 CL beef CIF US at $7,694/mt Sept. 23, both unchanged day over day.