A general view of the Lancaster House, where the trade talks between the U.S. and China are taking place is seen, in London, Monday, June 9, 2025.

Trucks loaded with container move through a container terminal port in Shanghai, China Monday, June 9, 2025.

President Donald Trump sent his top economic advisers to iron out a compromise struck with Chinese officials.

The Texas economy hung in the balance during trade talks with China in London, as the Trump administration sought a way Monday to de-escalate a trade war that the United States was losing.

President Donald Trump sent his top economic advisers to iron out wrinkles in a compromise struck with Chinese officials. The deal was struck last month after the president made a show of levying all kinds of tariffs on Chinese goods, declaring that the Communist nation was a trade cheat, a fentanyl exporter and challenger of U.S. geopolitical dominance.

All of those things are true. They’ve been true since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Democratic and Republican U.S. presidents have looked the other way so CEOs of multinational corporations could make hundreds of billions of dollars off the world’s largest consumer market.

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The United States and China became interdependent, and global trade grew as a result. China became a major buyer of Texas products, with purchases peaking at $26 billion in 2023. However, Trump is also correct........

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