De aankondiging van zondag 26 oktober 2025 over een zogenaamd nieuw akkoord tussen de Verenigde Staten en China blijkt niets meer dan een herhaling van wat Donald Trump al op 11 juni 2025 publiek maakte via zijn Truth Social-account. In dat bericht schreef hij letterlijk:

“Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me. Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!). We are getting a total of 55% tariffs, China is getting 10%. Relationship is excellent! Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Opvallend is dat de financiële markten nauwelijks lijken te letten op de herhaling van feiten. Beleggers reageren vooral op het idee van positief nieuws, niet op de inhoud ervan.

De indices bewegen hoger, gedreven door het sentiment dat elke vorm van “deal met China” goed nieuws is, ongeacht of er werkelijk iets nieuws te melden valt.

De tekst van de zogenoemde nieuwe aankondiging van 26 oktober komt woordelijk overeen met deze post van vier maanden geleden. Ook de inhoud is identiek: China levert volledige magneten en alle benodigde zeldzame aardmetalen vooraf aan de Verenigde Staten, terwijl Washington Chinese studenten toegang geeft tot Amerikaanse universiteiten. De tariefstructuur blijft ongewijzigd met 55% aan Amerikaanse zijde tegenover 10% aan Chinese kant.

Er is dus niets nieuws onder de zon. De timing van dit “nieuwe” bericht lijkt vooral politiek gemotiveerd, bedoeld om het beeld van vooruitgang te wekken in aanloop naar een ontmoeting tussen Trump en Xi die later deze week is.

🔵 English version

United States – China: nothing new under the sun in “new” Trump deal

The announcement on Sunday, October 26, 2025, of a so-called new agreement between the United States and China turns out to be nothing more than a repeat of what Donald Trump had already made public on June 11, 2025, through his Truth Social account. In that message, he wrote:

“Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me. Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!). We are getting a total of 55% tariffs, China is getting 10%. Relationship is excellent! Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

What stands out is that financial markets seem to pay little attention to the repetition of facts. Investors are reacting mainly to the appearance of positive news, not to its substance. The indices are moving higher, driven by the sentiment that any kind of “deal with China” is good news, regardless of whether anything new has actually been announced.

The text of the so-called new announcement on October 26 matches this post from four months earlier word for word. The content is also identical: China supplies complete magnets and all necessary rare earths upfront to the United States, while Washington allows Chinese students access to American universities. The tariff structure remains unchanged, with 55% on the U.S. side versus 10% on China’s.

In short, there is nothing new under the sun. The timing of this “new” statement appears primarily political, aimed at creating an image of progress ahead of the Trump–Xi meeting scheduled for later this week.