Donald Trump

From Businessman to President

Donald Trump was born in 1946 in New York City and built his career as a real estate developer. Running as a political outsider on an "America First" platform, he won the 2016 presidential election and was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States in January 2017. In trade and foreign policy, his administration pursued a unilateral and protectionist course, prioritising the US-China trade deficit and alleged intellectual property violations as pressure points. In 2018, he signed executive orders under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 imposing large-scale tariffs on Chinese goods, triggering the US-China trade war.

China Policy

The Trump administration designated China as a strategic competitor, applying pressure across trade, technology, and geopolitical dimensions. In addition to tariffs, export controls restricted key technology supplies to Chinese companies such as Huawei; harder stances were taken on Taiwan, the South China Sea, and Xinjiang. The Phase One trade agreement was signed in January 2020 but left core structural disputes unresolved. Trump lost the 2020 election but was re-elected in 2024, returning to office in January 2025.

Second Term: Tariff Escalation and the Busan Agreement

On 1 February 2025, Trump signed an executive order imposing a 10% tariff on Chinese goods, citing the cross-border flow of fentanyl, effective 4 February; this was raised to 20% on 3 March. Through April the tariff war escalated further, with cumulative US tariffs on Chinese goods reaching as high as 145% at one point. On 12 May, the two sides issued a Joint Statement following talks in Geneva, agreeing to substantially roll back tariffs on each other and suspend a portion of reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, bringing a temporary easing of the trade war. On the forced divestiture of TikTok's US operations, the Trump administration announced a deal framework in September 2025, extending the ban deadline to 16 December; on 22 January 2026, the TikTok USDS joint venture — led by US investors including Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz holding roughly 80% — was formally established. On 30 October 2025, Trump and Xi Jinping met in Busan, South Korea, and reached a trade agreement: China committed to curbing the flow of fentanyl precursors, eliminating rare earth export controls, ending retaliatory measures against US semiconductor firms, and expanding purchases of US agricultural goods (25 million metric tons of soybeans annually from 2026 to 2028); in turn, the US lowered its 'fentanyl tariff' from 20% to 10% (effective 10 November) and extended the suspension of reciprocal tariff increases until 10 November 2026. On 15 May 2026, the two sides met again and discussed a framework for reciprocal tariff reductions on goods worth more than $30 billion.