Key Points:
- The US and China are expected to extend their trade truce for up to one year.
- The agreement will likely be finalized when Trump and Xi meet in Beijing in early April.
- The current truce, agreed upon last October, halted a tense trade war from 2025.
- The summit will focus on new commitments from China to purchase more US goods.
The United States and China are poised to keep their trade war on pause for another year. According to sources familiar with the ongoing talks, President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping will likely agree to extend their current trade truce when they meet in Beijing early in April.
This development follows a report from the South China Morning Post. Sources indicate that extending the current understanding is a realistic and achievable goal for the upcoming summit. The meeting will reportedly focus on short-term economic gains, including fresh promises from China to buy more American products.
The two superpowers have been operating under a temporary truce since last October. That deal, reached during a meeting in South Korea, successfully cooled a period of intense economic conflict. It rolled back tariffs and export controls that had grown increasingly severe throughout 2025.
Before the truce, the relationship between the two countries had soured badly. Both sides had slapped triple-digit “retaliatory” tariffs on each other’s goods. In a major blow to American farmers, China also implemented a widespread boycott of U.S. agricultural products for a large part of the year.
One of the most significant results of the current truce has been China’s return to the U.S. soybean market. These purchases are critical for American farmers in key political states, and their resumption was seen as a major sign of goodwill from Beijing.
By extending the truce, both leaders can avoid another round of damaging economic conflict. The focus on new purchase agreements suggests that the immediate priority is to stabilize the trade relationship and produce tangible economic benefits, leaving larger, more complex issues for a later date.
