U.S.–China trade talks stall as Geneva truce falters

Amid new U.S. export bans and visa revocations, Beijing holds back on key concessions

Welcome back to What’s Happening in China, your weekly China brief.

U.S.–China trade talks “are a bit stalled,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News this week. “I think that given the magnitude of the talks […] this is going to require both leaders to weigh in with each other,” he said.

On Friday, Trump went on a tirade on Truth Social. Referring to the May 12 Geneva truce, he claimed to have “made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation.” The only problem, he said, is that “[China] HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US.”

The Geneva truce has been shaky from the start, and now, according to The Wall Street Journal, it’s “at risk of falling apart.” The agreement depended on rare-earth export concessions, and although Vice Premier He Lifeng—Beijing’s lead negotiator—“agreed to the demand in the final hours of marathon discussions with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer,” …