U.S. trade agreements: consolidated countermeasures by Democratic allies strip China of positions gained since the early 2020s

On July 28, 2025, Donald Trump announced that instead of 50 days to reach an agreement, Moscow and Beijing now have a deadline of August 12.

The President’s decision was made possible after concluding a framework trade agreement with the EU — the final necessary element to form a Western tariff perimeter with a 10–15% rate.

Following the EU’s accession, Washington concluded that the established tariff perimeter had gained sufficient resilience to launch a full package of secondary sanctions without risking internal destabilization of the coalition.

The shortened deadline disrupts Russia’s planning for a “lightning” summer operation in Ukraine and simultaneously undermines Beijing’s timeline, which was calculated to finalize internal decisions only by the September plenary session of the CPC Central Committee.