Bennet, Coons Statement on President Trump’s Concessions to President Xi

Oct 30, 2025| Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Delaware U.S. Senator Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on President Donald Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Seoul, South Korea.

"Today's announcements following President Trump's meeting with President Xi show what President Trump's repeated concessions have gotten us: nothing more than a return to where we were just months ago. Americans are still paying higher prices because of his tariffs, the People's Republic of China (PRC) continues to coerce our allies, and President Xi is walking away emboldened.

"President Trump agreed to pause some export controls aimed at retaining America's sole artificial intelligence advantage over the PRC - our semiconductors - and promised the PRC a tariff rate that, astonishingly, is lower than those he imposed on some of our closest partners like Canada and India, crippling a years-in-the-making friend-shoring strategy critical to our national security.

"Beijing agreed to delay, but not halt, its sweeping export controls on rare earths and magnets announced less than three weeks ago that threaten to choke off American manufacturing, put millions of Americans out of work, and deprive defense firms of the materials needed to maintain our deterrent advantage. The PRC still retains this economic "nuclear option" to deploy at a time and place of Beijing's choosing - or the next time President Xi wants a concession from President Trump.

"Their agreement to purchase American soybeans - just like they were six months ago - can similarly be stopped at any time. The PRC's promised steps to constrain the flow of fentanyl precursor materials, while a step in the right direction, don't include several actions that would have a real effect.

"Like so much else this administration does, today's announcements are simply a lot of noise that has generated headlines and turmoil but ultimately leaves us right back where we started. All the while, our adversaries remain one step ahead of us and walk away, again, with real victories."

###