The Trump administration reached an agreement with China this week focused on rare earth exports to the U.S., building on previous talks between the two nations that eased tariffs on imports from Beijing.
“We had trade talks in Geneva towards moving toward the agreement in London. Part of the agreement was tariffs coming down and rare earth, rare earth magnets starting to flow back to the U.S.— they formed the core of our industrial base. They were not flowing as fast as previously agreed,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday on Fox Business’s “Mornings With Maria.”
The agreement was then signed earlier this week, which the administration is describing as a de-escalation of the U.S.-China trade war.
“I am confident now that we, as agreed, the magnets will flow. In the meantime, we had put countermeasures versus the Chinese in place. We had held back some, the vital supplies for them. So, what we’re seeing here is a de-escalation under President Trump’s leadership,” Bessent said.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later told Bloomberg TV the deal, which was struck in London, was signed earlier this week.
“The China deal, we inked the deal — you remember, we had a trip to Geneva and then that was being slow-played. We got back together in London and that deal was signed and sealed two days ago,” Lutnick said.
Lutnick also told Bloomberg that China will “deliver rare earths to us” and that afterward, the U.S. will “take down our countermeasures.”
Massad Boulous, Trump’s senior advisor for Africa and father-in-law to his daughter Tiffany, told reporters that the U.S. was working on mineral agreements with both the DRC and Rwanda.
"We're negotiating a minerals deal with the DRC for critical minerals. Many American companies have shown interest in investing in the DRC," he said. "Same thing with Rwanda. Many American companies have shown interest, and not only in mining, but also in the midstream and downstream, which will be the processing of minerals."
Read more about China from Rachel and The Hill's Alex Gangitano here and read more about Africa from Rachel and The Hill's Laura Kelly here.
