Beijing deal will speed China's export of minerals to US
Washington and Beijing have signed a trade agreement that will make it easier for American firms to obtain magnets and rare earth minerals from China that are critical to manufacturing and microchip production, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday.
The agreement comes after China retaliated against steep import tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese goods, and moved to slow the export of rare earth minerals and magnets much needed by US industrial interests.
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Mr Bessent said on Fox Business Network's Mornings With Maria that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping 'had a phone call' previously 'and then our teams met in London, ironed this out, and I am confident now that we, as agreed, the magnets will flow'.
'Part of the agreement was tariffs coming down and rare earth magnets starting to flow back to the US,' Mr Bessent said.
'They formed the core of a lot of our industrial base. They were not flowing as fast as previously agreed.'
His comments come after Mr Trump announced two weeks earlier an agreement with China that he said would ease exportation of magnets and rare earth minerals
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That pact cleared the way for the trade talks to continue.
The US has previously suspended some sales to China of critical US technologies like components used for jet engines and semiconductors.
But it has also agreed to stop trying to revoke visas of Chinese nationals on US college campuses.
Mr Bessent added of critical mineral exports: 'What we're seeing here is a de-escalation.'
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Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg TV that the deal was signed earlier this week.
China's commerce ministry said on Friday that the two sides had 'further confirmed the details of the framework', though its statement did not explicitly mention US access to rare earths that have been at the centre of the negotiations.
'China will, in accordance with the law, review and approve eligible export applications for controlled items. In turn, the United States will lift a series of restrictive measures it had imposed on China,' it said.
Initial talks in Geneva in early May led both sides to postpone massive tariff hikes that were threatening to freeze much trade between the two countries.
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Later talks in London set a framework for negotiations and the deal mentioned by Mr Trump appeared to formalise that agreement, setting the stage for Mr Bessent's comments on Friday.
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