US says trade dispute with China could ease after Trump-Xi talks

A logjam in the trade talks between the United States and China could be broken once Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping speak, US officials said Sunday -- a conversation they said could happen soon.

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Trump on Friday accused Beijing of violating a deal reached last month in Geneva to temporarily lower staggeringly high tariffs the world's two biggest economies had imposed on each other, in a pause to last 90 days.

China's slow-walking on export license approvals for rare earths and other elements needed to make cars and chips have fueled US frustration, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday--a concern since confirmed by US officials.

But US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seemed to take the pressure down a notch on Sunday, telling CBS's “Face the Nation” that the gaps could soon be bridged.

"I'm confident that when President Trump and Party Chairman Xi have a call that this will be ironed out,” Bessent said, however noting that China was “withholding some of the products that they agreed to release during our agreement.”

When asked if rare earths were one of those products, Bessent said, “Yes.”

“Maybe it’s a glitch in the Chinese system. Maybe it's intentional. We'll see after the president speaks with” Xi, he said.

On when a Trump-Xi call could take place, Bessent said: “I believe we will see something very soon.”

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council told ABC that the call could happen “this week" but that he had no confirmation of a scheduled time.