The issue surrounding China’s supply of rare earths has been resolved, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (30), with Beijing expected to reverse some of the export restrictions that have led to tensions with Washington.
“The whole rare earth issue has been resolved, and that goes for the entire world,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One afterward.
“That hurdle is gone… There is no hurdle for rare earths. I hope it disappears from our vocabulary for a while,” he said, adding that the US will be able to continue its rare earth purchases and production.
China has a near-monopoly on the global supply and production of these critical resources, essential in the manufacture of almost all high-tech products, from iPhones to electric vehicles.
China sharply tightened its export controls on critical minerals earlier this month, a move Beijing said was a response to Washington’s expansion of technology export controls in late September.
The retaliatory actions resulted in new tensions, which began to ease after trade talks in Malaysia over the weekend.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Trump and Xi “have reached an understanding” and that Beijing will not “impose the rare earth controls it has proposed.” It is unclear whether all of Beijing’s restrictions will be lifted.
Meeting between leaders
Trump and Xi Jinping concluded their meeting in Busan, South Korea.
The two leaders shook hands before leaving the air base at Gimhae International Airport together at around 12:50 pm local time (00:50 am on Thursday in Brasília).
The meeting between Trump and Xi was the first face-to-face meeting in six years between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.
The expectation was that both would reach agreement on a framework for managing economic relations and a way forward to overcome the trade conflict that has rocked the global economy.
