China will begin easing a ban on exports of automotive computer chips essential to global car production as part of a trade deal between the United States and China, the White House said.
The White House confirmed details of the deal in a new fact sheet after Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met in South Korea this week.
The two countries also reached agreements on U.S. soybean exports, rare earth mineral supplies, and materials used to produce the drug fentanyl.
The deal seeks to ease a trade war between the world’s two largest economies after President Trump imposed tariffs on China after taking office this year, leading to a series of retaliatory tariffs and global business uncertainty.
Much of the fact sheet released Saturday was released by President Trump and other officials following the two leaders’ meeting.
Trump described the talks in South Korea as “amazing,” while China said they had reached an agreement to resolve “major trade issues” but did not immediately release details of the agreement.
“We don’t want to separate from China… (but) China has shown itself to be an unreliable partner,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN on Sunday after the fact sheet was released.
One of the issues addressed in this transaction was the export of computer chips for automobiles. There were concerns that a shortage of chips from Nexperia, which has production facilities in China, could cause global supply chain problems.
Nexperia is a Chinese-owned company but is headquartered in the Netherlands. About 70% of Nexperia chips produced in Europe are sent to China, where they are completed and then re-exported to other countries.
The fact sheet states that China will “take appropriate steps to ensure the resumption of trade at Nexperia facilities in China so that production of critical legacy chips can flow globally.”
This comes as the Chinese government said on Saturday it was considering excluding some companies from the ban.
Last month, companies such as Volvo Cars and Volkswagen warned that chip shortages could force their plants to temporarily close, while Jaguar Land Rover said the chip shortage was a threat to its business.
On other key issues, China will now suspend for a year export controls it introduced last month on rare earth minerals essential to the production of cars, planes and weapons.
The White House also said it would lower tariffs imposed to curb fentanyl imports into the United States as China agreed to take “significant steps” to address the problem.
Fentanyl is a synthetic drug made from a combination of chemicals and has been approved for medical use in the United States, but the powerful and highly addictive substance has since become the leading cause of opioid overdose deaths in the United States.
Some of the chemicals used in manufacturing have legitimate uses and most are sourced from China.
In the soybean sector, China has committed to purchase 12 million tons of U.S. soybeans in the last two months of 2025 and 25 million tons annually for the next three years. This roughly corresponds to the previous level.
China’s decision earlier this year to stop purchasing soybeans from the United States denied American farmers access to its largest export market.
In response, President Trump revived the farmer bailout that was implemented during his first term.
