Trump says the deal is done — again. After a dramatic, under-the-radar summit in a London mansion, the U.S. and China have agreed to stick to the terms of their Geneva trade pact. It’s the same deal as before, just with more public handshakes and fresh ink. On paper, we’re getting 55% tariffs, China’s getting 10%, and we’re back to trading rare earth metals and student visas like it’s 2018. The relationship, Trump says, is “excellent.”
That’s a bold claim considering the backdrop. China controls 70% of rare earth metals. We need those for everything — from computers to defense to green tech. When we raise tariffs, they raise theirs. When we blink, they blink back. There’s nothing groundbreaking about that pattern — it’s international relations on rinse-and-repeat. But what’s different this time is China’s eagerness to renegotiate when the U.S. turned up the heat. That’s new. That’s leverage. And it makes me wonder: are we actually in control this time, or just imagining we are because we got them to London?\
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