Singapore: China and the United States confirmed on Friday they had signed off on a trade agreement struck earlier this month, with the White House heralding the deal as breaking an impasse over rare earths exports.
However, China was more circumspect, saying it would approve the export of “controlled items”, but stopping short of confirming this included shipments of rare earths and magnets.
Beijing had suspended rare earth exports as part of its trade dispute with the US, triggering supply chain shortages. China has a monopoly on the production of rare earths, which are critical for the manufacturing of many products, including electric vehicles, wind turbines and defence technology.
China’s Xi Jinping and America’s Donald Trump.
In a statement on Friday, China’s Foreign Ministry said it had confirmed the details of a trade framework struck with US negotiators at crisis talks in London earlier this month.
“China will approve the export applications of controlled items that meet the conditions in accordance with the law. The United States will cancel a series of restrictive measures taken against China accordingly,” the statement said.
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“It is hoped that the United States and China will meet each other halfway.”
When asked at a daily press conference whether this included expediting rare earth exports, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun provided no further detail.
Earlier, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg: “They’re going to deliver rare earths to us” and once they do that “we’ll take down our countermeasures”.
