US and China extend their trade truce to 10 January

The United States and China have agreed to extend their trade truce until January, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said¹. The extension runs from November 10 to January 10⁴, a two-month addition to what both sides call the Busan agreement^8,12. Bessent announced it on Wednesday evening, shortly after the Chinese delegation arrived^2,5.

The announcement followed several days of negotiation. Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had been holding talks with their Chinese counterparts since Sunday to lay the groundwork⁷, and the two officials spoke to reporters after a meeting⁶. Asked whether a larger agreement was possible, Bessent said he does not know if a bigger deal can be done with China¹².

Why it matters to investors

The extension defers tariff escalation rather than resolving it³. Semafor noted that expectations for the meeting, the third in less than a year, are low given lingering disputes over trade and deep competition over artificial intelligence⁹.

Coverage on both sides of the Pacific framed the extension the same way. Nikkei Asia and NBC News both reported the truce running through January 10 on Bessent’s word^1,7, and the Financial Times said the two countries had agreed to the extension until that date³.

The choreography around the visit was unusual. President Trump welcomed Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday evening, the US military base 13 miles southeast of the White House in Maryland¹¹. Presidents typically receive visiting leaders at the White House, which made the airport welcome an unusual diplomatic gesture¹¹. Teams held the Chinese and American flags as Xi arrived¹⁰. In February 2025, Trump had welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky at the West Wing entrance¹¹.

What to watch

The new deadline falls inside the next earnings cycle. Markets now have until January 10 before the tariff question returns^3,6, and the extension was announced without any indication that the underlying disputes have narrowed^9,12.

Two threads run through the week. The first is whether the summit produces anything beyond the extension, given that Bessent would not commit to a bigger deal¹². The second is the negotiating channel itself: Bessent and Greer have met their counterparts repeatedly in the run-up^6,7, and the truce was sealed as Xi landed rather than at the summit table^2,5.