US, China Announce Multiple Trade Deals
Is this a landmark win for American workers or a partial recovery masking deeper losses?
Above: Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14. Image credit: Kenny Holston/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
The U.S.-China trade package is a landmark win for American workers, farmers and manufacturers. Boeing gets its China market back with 200 aircraft approved for purchase, farmers lock in $17 billion annually through 2028 and rare earth supply chains get stabilized in writing for the first time.
Establishment-critical narrative
The $17 billion agricultural commitment is being sold as a victory, but U.S. farm exports to China were $30 billion annually under Biden before Trump's tariffs cratered them to $8.4 billion in 2025. Celebrating a partial recovery to $17 billion means American farmers are still getting half of what they had. Brazil and Argentina grabbed the market share lost during the tariff war, and that business isn't coming back.
