Melker Bengtsson
TL;DR
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The trade truce between the US and China has been extended to January 10, according to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
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The Busan Agreement cut the fentanyl-related and reciprocal tariffs President Trump had imposed on China; the Supreme Court later struck both down.
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Trump's 100% tariff threat in October 2025 wiped out over $19 billion in leveraged crypto positions.
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Beijing has yet to confirm the extension, and Bessent doesn't know whether a bigger deal can be done.
The trade truce between the United States and China has been extended to January 10, according to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The agreement was announced after a meeting between Scott Bessent, President Trump's lead negotiator with China, and He Lifeng, China's Vice Premier and Beijing's top trade negotiator. Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, is in Washington for a state visit.
Scott Bessent said on Fox News yesterday:
We will extend what we call the 'Busan Agreement' — the economic détente between the two countries that was scheduled to end on Nov. 10 — that is going to be extended until Jan. 10.
The Busan Agreement
The Busan Agreement was reached on October 30, 2025. It cut two sets of tariffs that President Trump had imposed on China. The first ones were the 20% fentanyl-related tariffs, which were meant to stay until China cracked down on companies selling fentanyl precursor chemicals to illicit drug labs in North America.
The second tariffs were the reciprocal ones. They were imposed on about 90 countries and China got 34% imposed on top of the 20% from the fentanyl tariffs.
China had responded heavily to the US tariffs. The fentanyl tariffs were met with tariffs on US energy and farm goods, and US tariffs on China kept increasing to 145% until the reciprocal part was cut to 10% in Geneva, in May last year. This was then extended in Busan last October, where the fentanyl tariffs were also halved to 10%. In February this year, the US Supreme Court struck down both sets of tariffs, and the US has since rebuilt its duties under other trade laws.
Trump's 100% Tariff Threat and Crypto
In October 2025, President Trump's threat of 100% tariffs on China caused a sell-off in crypto which saw Bitcoin crash from $122,600 to $104,800. Trump made the threat after China expanded its export controls on rare earths. Over $19 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out, which CoinGlass called the largest liquidation event in crypto history.
Bitcoin trades just below $84,000, with traders focused on hot US economic data.
The New January 10 Deadline
The November 10 cliff has been avoided and January 10 is the new deadline for the agreement. Scott Kennedy, China trade specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says Washington is keeping pressure on China with this short extension. Beijing has yet to confirm the extension.
Xi and Trump could meet again this year, in Shenzhen and during the G20 in Miami, and the agreement is sure to come up during those meetings. When asked whether a bigger deal could be reached by January 10, Bessent answered:
I don't know whether a bigger deal can be done. I don't know whether we will just roll the current deal.
