A pair of documents laying out the Trump administration’s global security strategy have been delayed for weeks due in part to changes that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insisted on concerning China, according to three people familiar with the discussions on the strategies. The documents — the National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy — were initially expected to be released earlier this fall. Both are now almost done and will likely be released this month, one of the people said. The second person confirmed the imminent release of the National Security Strategy, and the third confirmed that the National Defense Strategy was coming very soon. All were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The strategies went through multiple rounds of revisions after Bessent wanted more work done on the language used to discuss China, given sensitivity over ongoing trade negotiations with Beijing and the elevation of the Western Hemisphere as a higher priority than it had been in previous administrations, the people said. The National Security Strategy has been used by successive administrations to outline their overall strategic priorities from the economic sphere to dealing with allies and adversaries and military posture. The drafting goes through a series of readthroughs and comment periods from Cabinet officials in an attempt to capture the breadth of an administrations’ vision and ensure the entire administration is marching in the same direction on the president’s top issues. The administration has been involved in sensitive trade talks with Beijing for months over tariffs and a variety of trade issues, but the Pentagon has maintained its position that China remains the top military rival to the United States. The extent of the changes after Bessent’s requests remains unclear, but two of the people said that Bessent wanted to soften some of the language concerning Chinese activities while declining to provide more details. Any changes to one document would require similar changes to the other, as they must be in sync to express a unified front. It is common for the Treasury secretary and other Cabinet officials to weigh in during the drafting and debate process of crafting a new strategy, as most administrations will only release one National Security Strategy per term. In a statement, the Treasury Department said that Bessent “is 100 percent aligned with President Trump, as is everyone else in this administration, as to how to best manage the relationship with China.” The White House referred to the Treasury Department. Trump administration officials have alternately decried the threat from China and looked for ways to improve relations with Beijing. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to deliver a speech on Friday at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, on Pentagon efforts to build weapons more quickly to meet the China challenge. At the same time, Hegseth is working with his Chinese counterpart, Adm. Dong Jun, to set up a U.S.-China military communication system aimed to prevent disagreements or misunderstandings from spiraling into unintended conflict in the Indo-Pacific. Bessent told the New ‍York Times Dealbook summit on Wednesday that China was on schedule to meet the pledges it made under a ‌U.S.-China trade agreement, including purchasing 12 million metric tons of soybeans by February 2026. “China is on track to ‍keep every ⁠part of the deal,” ⁠he said. Those moves by administration officials are set against the massive Chinese military buildup in the Indo-Pacific region and tensions over Beijing’s belligerent attitude toward the Philippines, where Beijing and Manila have been facing off over claims of land masses and reefs in the South China Sea. The U.S. has been supplying the Philippines with more sophisticated weaponry in recent years in part to ward off the Chinese threat. China has also consistently flown fighter planes and bombers and sailed warships close to Taiwan’s shores despite the Taiwan Relations Act, an American law that pledges the U.S. to keep close ties with the independent island. The National Security Strategy, which is put out by every administration, hasn’t been updated since 2022 under the Biden administration. That document highlighted three core themes: strategic competition with China and Russia; renewed investment and focus on domestic industrial policy; and the recognition that climate change is a central challenge that touches all aspects of national security. The strategy is expected to place more emphasis on the Western Hemisphere than previous strategies, which focused on the Middle East, counterterrorism, China and Russia. The new strategy will include those topics but also focus on topics such as migration, drug cartels and relations with Latin America — all under the umbrella of protecting the U.S. homeland. That new National Defense Strategy similarly places more emphasis on protecting the U.S. homeland and the Western Hemisphere, as POLITICO first reported, a choice that has caused some concern among military commanders. Both documents are expected to be followed by the “global posture review,” a look at how U.S. military assets are positioned across the globe, and which is being eagerly anticipated by allies from Germany to South Korea, both of which are home to tens of thousands of U.S. troops who might be moved elsewhere.

BUSAN, South Korea — President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had “an amazing meeting” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, appearing to tamp down tensions that had been building for months. “Zero, to 10, with 10 being the best, I’d say the meeting was a 12,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, shortly after he left South Korea on his way back to Washington. “A lot of decisions were made … and we’ve come to a conclusion on very many important points.” The agreement, according to Trump, includes a commitment from China to purchase soybeans from American farmers, curb the flow of fentanyl and postpone its export restrictions on rare earths, which are used in everything from iPhones to military equipment. “There is no road block at all on rare earth,” Trump said. “Hopefully, that will disappear from our vocabulary for a little while.” Trump said he intended to immediately lower tariffs on Chinese exports to 47 percent from 57 percent. The result pulls the two nations back from the brink and should induce a significant sigh of relief from capital markets around the world. Details remain sparse and there have been false starts and resets before, but Trump said he could sign an agreement “pretty soon” and that few stumbling blocks remained. Trump also said he plans to visit China in April and that Xi would travel to the United States after that. This was Trump and Xi’s first face-to-face meeting since the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan in June 2019, when the two countries were also in the middle of a trade war. Thursday’s summit in South Korea followed months of renewed tensions that have impeded trade between the two countries, despite several announced truces. While Trump has ratcheted up tariffs on China — at one point as high as 145 percent — and tightened export controls on high-tech goods, Beijing has responded with its own devastating pressure campaign. That includes reducing purchases of American farm goods, which fell by more than 50 percent in the first seven months of 2025. U.S. soybeans farmers, who exported a record $18 billion worth of their crop to China in 2022, have been hit particularly, with just $2.4 billion in shipments to China in January through July. Beijing also imposed new export controls on rare earth materials. Earlier this month, China added five more rare earth elements to its control list and, much more controversially, outlined a plan requiring foreign companies that use even tiny amounts of Chinese-sourced rare earths to obtain a license from Beijing to export their finished products. U.S. officials described that move as an intolerable attempt by China to control global supply chains, and Trump threatened new 100 percent tariffs to take effect on Nov. 1. But it appears both sides wanted to avoid that kind of escalation. During the weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, after meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Malaysia, said they believed Beijing was prepared to delay its rare earth restrictions for a year, make “substantial” purchases of American farm goods and attempt to curb shipments of fentanyl precursor chemicals to the U.S.

President Donald Trump heads into a historic meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping facing a delicate test: projecting strength against America’s top adversary without triggering another economic shock at home. The high-stakes encounter, the first between the two men in more than six years, comes after months of tariff feints and escalating rhetoric that have rattled markets and strained global supply chains — and at a moment when Trump is eager to prove that his economic nationalism can still deliver concrete wins. Administration officials are voicing confidence that Trump and Xi will step back from the brink of a second trade war when they meet Thursday morning local time in South Korea, but even a small misstep could send markets spiraling, as they did when Trump last imposed triple-digit tariffs on Chinese imports in April. Markets have grown accustomed to Trump’s tariff back-and-forths over the last 10 months, but investors remain queasy over the specter of new levies, like the 100 percent the president is now threatening. Trump’s favorite negotiating tool — tariffs — hasn’t worked on China the way it has in other places. While the vast majority of countries rushed to notch trade agreements, Beijing has responded with not only its own tariffs but an effective embargo on U.S. soybean purchases and sweeping export controls that underscore the near-monopoly the country continues to have over rare earth materials, which are used in everything from iPhones to military equipment. Trump has raised expectations for a successful confab, telling reporters multiple times in the last week that his meeting with Xi is “going to work out very well.” “I think we’re going to have a deal,” Trump said Wednesday in South Korea, his third stop in a weeklong Asia trip. “That’s really a great result that’s better than fighting or going through all sorts of problems. The world is watching.” The president is likely to brandish any concessions he secures from Xi as proof that his pressure campaign is working. “I think the president is very focused on reaching an equilibrium in the economic relationship where we stop the cycle of escalation and we get to some sort of at least temporary or partial resolution to some of the immediate economic headwinds,” said Alex Gray, who served as National Security Council chief of staff and deputy assistant to the president during the first Trump administration. A reset of the U.S.-China relationship to where it was before the latest spat would give both leaders a way to claim victory to their domestic audiences. China’s embargo of U.S. soybean exports has been a persistent pressure point for Trump as frustrated farmers complain that Washington bailed out Argentina but has left them waiting for relief, a political vulnerability the president is eager to neutralize. And for Xi, the talks offer a chance to ease mounting economic pressure at home, where sluggish growth and capital flight have underscored the limits of Beijing’s self-reliance strategy. The two sides have quietly negotiated for months with little tangible progress, save for a May session in Geneva that produced a limited accord that ended a brief round of tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries. Something similar could happen again — a limited agreement that deescalates the latest round of tensions but does little to meaningfully address the U.S.’s longstanding frustrations over its trade imbalance with China. “I think it will be a fragile truce on trade,” said Matt Pottinger, a former deputy national security adviser during the first Trump administration, now chairman of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “None of the systemic problems go away, but the two sides will probably agree to kick the can into next year before either pursues further escalation.” The “Phase One” trade pact that the U.S. and China signed in January 2020 called for hundreds of billions of dollars in additional Chinese purchases of U.S. goods and tougher intellectual-property enforcement. Yet China never met its purchase targets, which it blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic. Although former President Joe Biden maintained and expanded Trump’s tariffs on Beijing, Trump administration officials and congressional Republicans have accused him of failing to aggressively enforce the pact. The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office last week launched an investigation into what it describes as the country’s “apparent failure” to comply with the deal. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, following meetings in Kuala Lumpur with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, outlined the “framework” of an agreement in which China resumes its purchases of soybeans and delays implementation of new export controls, and the U.S. agrees not to impose new tariffs. China’s foreign ministry, in a statement ahead of the meeting, said it is “possible to stabilize and advance the bilateral relationship as long as the two sides fully implement the important common understandings reached by the two heads of state.” China also purchased multiple ships of American soybeans in advance of the meeting, a move that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in a post on X called “a great start.” Bessent has also said that Beijing will, as part of the framework, agree to new provisions on the precursor chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl, something Trump has been pushing for since he slapped a first round of tariffs on China in February. It’s a politically potent issue for Trump, who has repeatedly accused Beijing of failing to curb the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., but China hawks are skeptical that the commitment will be substantial or long-lasting. “Our attitude in the first administration was ‘don’t bother with talks.’ Talks only work in Beijing’s favor because whatever comes out of these conversations, whatever agreement you come up with, will only be valid in so long as it favors the Chinese side,” said a first-term Trump official, granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. “As soon as it becomes inconvenient, they walk away from it.’” The official said that while Trump stands to look “like a senior diplomat, a statesman” in the meeting, Xi stands to get more out of it “if he can be made to look strong to his people, if the outcome is yet another meaningless trade deal.” Other former Trump officials worry that the president could be persuaded to make significant concessions, such as lifting export controls on semiconductor chips or the equipment used to manufacture them. Trump faced criticism in August for striking a deal with Nvidia to allow the sale of certain chips to China. “The base case is, they muddle through and they have a meeting and then they agree to have more meetings and more trade talks,” said Liza Tobin, who served as National Security Council director for China during the first Trump administration and the start of the Biden administration. “The worst case scenario for the United States is Trump concedes a whole lot of these real concessions.” But Trump, who likes to maintain maximum negotiating leverage heading into meetings with world leaders, hasn’t signed off on the framework Bessent has outlined publicly, telling reporters on Air Force One earlier this week that “nothing has been agreed to yet.” Trump has also teased that he “might” sign a final deal on TikTok on Thursday. The meeting comes as Trump’s tariff strategy is facing scrutiny at home. Five Republican senators joined Democrats on Wednesday against Trump’s 50 percent tariff on Brazil, a largely symbolic vote on a measure that the House has said it won’t take up even as it represents a rare GOP rebuke of Trump’s policies. Even if the framework holds, it would represent a narrow truce rather than a structural shift. It’s likely to sidestep the deeper disputes that have long defined the U.S.-China relationship as Trump officials continue to pressure China to curb industrial subsidies, improve market access for U.S. companies and curb China’s control of key supply chains. It’s also unclear to what extent China will push a conversation about Taiwan. Trump, asked Friday about whether he’s open to changing U.S. policy on Taiwan, said he didn’t want to talk about it because he didn’t “want to create any complexity” for an “already complex” trip. Pottinger, the former deputy national security adviser, said that the president’s style is “to maintain an open channel to the top decision makers within adversarial states.” But, he added, Trump “understands that Beijing coercing Taiwan would do serious harm to U.S. economic and national security and would be a stain on President Trump’s record.” Recent trade accords with southeast Asian countries — including Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia — may give Washington a stronger hand heading into the meeting, showing allies that the U.S. is trying to chip away at Beijing’s regional grip. The U.S. has also in the last week inked agreements with Australia and Japan to collaborate on establishing a rare earth supply chain outside of China, and signed memorandums with Thailand and Malaysia that could lead to rare earth exports from both countries. “It is really important for them to continue to lock up these deals in the Indo Pacific, because with all of this, if the outcome is that these countries begin to tilt even more towards China, economically and commercially than they already are, that’s a terrible outcome for the United States,” said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and former aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Ari Hawkins, Diana Nerozzi and Doug Palmer contributed to this report.

BRUSSELS — The ink is still drying on a leaders’ statement formalizing a tariff deal between the EU and the United States, and President Donald Trump is already threatening to tear it up.  In another punch against the EU, Trump threatened Monday to impose further tariffs on countries whose digital rules, in his view, discriminate against American companies.   “I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country’s Exports to the U.S.A., and institute Export restrictions on our Highly Protected Technology and Chips,” he wrote on Truth Social. The Trump administration has fired shot after shot against the EU’s digital rule book — claiming that the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, respectively, censor American citizens and unfairly target U.S. companies.   The European Commission was quick to stress its regulatory autonomy.  “It is the sovereign right of the EU and its member states to regulate economic activities on our territory, which are consistent with our democratic values,” the EU’s chief spokesperson Paula Pinho told reporters Tuesday.   Trump’s new threat, however, challenges the EU’s logic that a joint statement published with the U.S. last week provides industry with crucial predictability.  “This is a further indication that the so-called deal of July 27 does not bring security and stability,” said Bernd Lange, a lawmaker with the Socialists and Democrats who chairs the trade committee in the European Parliament.   As Trump and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shook hands on the deal in Scotland at the end of July, many saw it as an act of surrender by the EU. Chiefly, the EU agreed to scrap tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods in exchange for a 15 percent baseline tariff, which would also apply to cars that now face a 27.5 percent levy.  This, Brussels argued at the time, was a price worth paying to shield the EU — and its regulatory autonomy — from future escalation from the mercurial Trump administration.  “I can only repeat, and stress how much we’ve worked to ensure that we are not touching in any way our legitimate digital regulation. That includes, of course, the Digital Markets Act, as well as the Digital Services Act, as well the digital services taxes of our member states,” a senior EU official told reporters last week after the EU executive unveiled its joint statement with the U.S.   Less than a week on, the EU is finding out the hard way that Trump’s commitments can quickly be overtaken by his ever-shifting priorities.   “Deals with the Trump administration simply do not create the kind of lasting certainty everyone is desperate for, because certainty, predictability and strict fidelity to treaties are not White House objectives,” said Dmitry Grozoubinski, a former trade diplomat and author of the book “Why Politicians Lie About Trade.” “Given the public interest in digital regulation, the suspicion of U.S. tech giants, and how quickly this extortion is coming after what was supposed to be a glorious trade peace across the Atlantic — this may be a bridge too far for Europe,” he added.   The Commission pushed back against that interpretation.   “We believe that this deal indeed has provided for predictability and stability,” Pinho told a news briefing.  RETALIATION MOJO   In the final stages of its negotiations with the Trump administration, Europe’s appetite to retaliate against Washington faded, with capitals desperate to keep Trump focused on ending the war in Ukraine.   “We prepared [countermeasures],” Sabine Weyand, the EU’s top trade official, told a panel at the European Forum Alpbach on Monday before Trump’s latest announcement. “But, of course, this requires you to be ready to accept the cost that is associated with countermeasures and to accept that is linked to further escalation. There was clearly no appetite for that. And, as I said, the overwhelming point was Ukraine and the U.S. security guarantees.”  Trump’s latest move could, however, put pressure once again on the EU executive and member countries to respond. One option would be to take countermeasures — which would impose tariffs on €93 billion in U.S. goods ranging from aircraft to autos, and from soybeans to Kentucky bourbon — out of the freezer.   Another — which some are already calling for — would be to deploy its Anti-Coercion Instrument. This “trade bazooka” foresees potentially broad action in response to trade blackmail. “In my opinion, this is clearly a case for the AC instrument,” said Lange.  Pinho, asked directly about the Anti-Coercion Instrument, declined to speculate.  UP NEXT   The EU’s weakness in negotiating with Trump contrasts with Beijing’s more aggressive strategy. Capitalizing on its near-monopoly on rare earths, China in April imposed export restrictions on the critical minerals — Trump earlier this month extended a tariff truce with China for another 90 days, setting the stage for broader negotiations between the world’s two biggest economies.  Its strategic weaknesses in sectors ranging from military to technology condemns the EU, however, to reactionary limbo in its dealings with the U.S.   On Wednesday, the Commission is expected to put forward its proposals to lift tariffs on U.S. industrial goods and cars.   According to the joint statement, the U.S. will lower its 27.5 percent tariffs on cars and automotive parts to the baseline 15 percent only after the EU proposes legislation to eliminate tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods. If the Commission goes ahead with the proposal, the tariff relief would apply retroactively from Aug. 1.  “We will proceed with the implementation of the framework agreement,” said Pinho. Sarah Wheaton contributed reporting.

BRUSSELS — The European Commission received broad support from EU member countries on Thursday for a single round of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods if no trade deal is reached with the Trump administration, two EU diplomats told POLITICO. Some €93 billion in U.S. products — ranging from soybeans to aircraft — would face tariffs of up to 30 percent, though not all of them would see such a high rate. With the vote, in which only Hungary objected, the EU tariffs will not take immediate effect. Rather, they will remain suspended until Aug. 7 to allow time to strike a deal with the United States. The Commission can decide at short notice to suspend the tariffs for longer, in case that more time is needed to hash out a deal, trade spokesperson Olof Gill told the daily briefing. “The EU is focused on finding a negotiated outcome with the U.S.,” Gill reiterated, declining to give a play-by-play update on the negotiations. Talks between the EU and U.S. have picked up pace again after Trump sent a letter threatening 30 percent U.S. tariffs on all imports from the EU if no deal is reached by Aug. 1. The two sides are now eyeing a deal which would set a baseline U.S. tariff of 15 percent after Trump announced a similar accord with Japan.

BRUSSELS — The EU will merge two packages of retaliation measures against U.S. tariffs into a single one that will be ready to use if trade negotiations with the Trump administration go sour, a European Commission spokesperson said Wednesday. “To make our countermeasures clearer, simpler, and stronger, we will merge lists 1 & 2 into a single list,” the bloc’s spokesperson for trade Olof Gill told journalists. The first list is currently paused until Aug. 6 and the second awaits a vote by the EU’s 27 member countries. The combined list would target €93 billion of U.S. imports into the EU including bourbon, airplanes and soybeans. The first dates back to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs from March, with the second one only recently finalized. Gill said the combined list would enter into force on Aug. 7, though the Commission can suspend the measures for longer. The move comes as negotiations have faltered in recent weeks after President Donald Trump threatened to hit the EU with 30 percent tariffs if the two sides don’t reach a deal by Aug. 1. “Our priority is negotiations, we continue in parallel to prepare for all outcomes,” Gill said. He added that Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič was due to speak with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later on Wednesday. Trump announced a deal with Japan overnight that set a 15 percent tariff across the board, including for cars. The EU is also pushing for assurances on industrial products it ships to the U.S.

BRUSSELS — While the EU’s latest U.S. retaliatory tariff proposal hits aircraft, vehicles and medical appliances hardest, health care, transport and agri-food lobbyists have secured a few wins. Having already agreed on an initial tariff package affecting around €21 billion in U.S. goods, set to come into force Aug. 6, the EU has been haggling over the details of a second retaliatory package for months. The second list, seen by POLITICO, would affect €72 billion worth of imports. That’s down from an initial proposal, published in May, that would have hit an estimated €95 billion worth of U.S. goods. Lobbying around the lists has been intense, as national and sectoral representatives scramble to get key goods they need from the U.S. scrubbed from the lineup of negotiating chips. We crunched the numbers on the goods most likely to get caught in the crossfire and which sectors may manage to escape unscathed. THE BIG PICTURE According to the latest EU plan, tariffs on industrial goods would hurt U.S. imports the most, to the tune of almost €66 billion. The remainder of the pain, €6 billion in affected goods, would come from tariffs on agricultural and food products. Aircraft products top the tariff impact charts by miles, with over €10 billion goods potentially affected.  Passenger vehicles and medical appliances round out the top three largest product categories hit in both the May and July versions of the tariff list.  BIGGEST WINNERS Diagnostic or laboratory reagents — i.e., chemicals used for medical testing — and gas turbines were set to be among the top 10 most affected product groups in the first version of the tariff list. They have been scrubbed from the latest version seen by POLITICO.  They are not the only products that managed to escape the fray.  Several goods related to health care appear to no longer be under threat, such as X-ray apparatus, thread for stitches, and materials used for surgery to separate tissue, as well as wheelchairs and scooters for people with disabilities. In the world of agriculture and food, soybean seeds also disappeared from the document. MAKING GAINS While unsuccessful in totally dodging tariffs, some key goods for large product categories have been removed from the firing line.  For instance, several data processing machines, i.e., computers, have been removed from the list. As have machines used to make semiconductors.  With U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest 30 percent tariff threat and the Aug. 1 deal deadline looming, European producers reliant on products still on the list will be bracing for impact or praying for a deal. Hanne Cokelaere contributed to this report.

BRUSSELS — Hard-hitting penalties on American exports to to the EU won’t come into force next week as planned, and instead will only be imposed if U.S. President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to apply a 30 percent tariff on the bloc. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said negotiations with Washington were underway after the White House confirmed it would hike tariffs on imports from the EU starting Aug. 1. “We will therefore also extend the suspension of our countermeasures till early August and at the same time we will continue to prepare further countermeasures so we are always prepared,” she said. “We have as you know a two-track approach. We have always been clear that we prefer a negotiated solution. This remains the case,” von der Leyen said. The countermeasures — which could affect €21 billion of U.S. products like soybeans, motorcycles and orange juice — were due to take effect from 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday. Their suspension comes after the bloc vowed it would respond following Trump’s announcement Saturday. Asked whether the EU could consider deploying its Anti-Coercion Instrument — or “trade bazooka” — to hit American banks and businesses in response, von der Leyen said the measures “were created for extraordinary situations — we are not there yet. This is very important. This is now the time for negotiations. But this also shows we are prepared for all eventual scenarios,” she said.