Deal with Beijing will boost China's export of minerals to US: Bessent

The US Treasury Secretary says part of the agreement was tariffs coming down and rare earth magnets starting to flow back to the US

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Washington and Beijing have signed a trade agreement that will make it easier for American firms to obtain magnets and rare earth minerals from China that are critical to manufacturing and microchip production, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday.

The agreement comes after China retaliated against steep import tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese goods and moved to slow export of rare earth minerals and magnets much-needed by US industrial interests.

Bessent said on Fox Business Network's “Mornings with Maria” that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping “had a phone call” previously “and then our teams met in London, ironed this out, and I am confident now that we, as agreed, the magnets will flow.” “Part of the agreement was tariffs coming down and rare earth magnets starting to flow back to the US,” Bessent said. “They formed the core of a lot of our industrial base. They were not flowing as fast as previously agreed.”

His comments follow President Donald Trump announcing two weeks earlier an agreement with China that he said would ease exportation of magnets and rare earth minerals That pact cleared the way for the trade talks to continue.

The US has previously suspended some sales to China of critical US technologies like components used for jet engines and semiconductors, But it has also agreed to stop trying to revoke visas of Chinese nationals on US college campuses.