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US Says Trade Row With China Could Ease After Trump-Xi Talks

The Straits Times

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June 03, 2025

China's slowness on export licence approvals for rare earths fuels US frustration: WSJ report

WASHINGTON - A logjam in trade talks between the United States and China could be broken once leaders Donald Trump and Xi Jinping speak, said American officials on June 1 - a conversation they said could happen soon.

President Trump on May 30 accused Beijing of violating a deal reached in April in Geneva to temporarily lower staggeringly high tariffs that the world's two biggest economies had imposed on each other, in a pause that would last 90 days.

China's slow-walking on export licence approvals for rare earths and other elements needed to make cars and chips has fuelled US frustration, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on May 30 - a concern since confirmed by US officials.

But US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seemed to take the pressure down a notch on June 1, telling CBS' Face The Nation that the gaps could soon be bridged.

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