US-China talks sketch out rare earths, tariff pause for Trump, Xi to consider

Top Chinese and US economic officials on Sunday hashed out the framework of a trade deal for US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to decide on later this week that would pause steeper American tariffs and Chinese rare earths export controls, US officials said, Reuters reported.

- Agencies

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said talks on the sidelines of the Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur had eliminated the threat of Trump's 100% tariffs on Chinese imports starting November 1. Bessent also said he expects China to delay implementation of its rare earth minerals and magnets licensing regime by a year while the policy is reconsidered.

Chinese officials were more circumspect about the talks and offered no details about the outcome of the meetings.

Trump and Xiare due to meet on Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, to sign off on the terms. While the White House has officially announced the highly anticipated Trump-Xi talks, China has yet to confirm that the two leaders will meet.