US President Donald Trump on Friday said that they have signed a trade agreement with China. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg TV that the deal was signed earlier this week. Neither Lutnick nor Trump provided any details about the agreement. Lutnick said the deal was “signed and sealed” two days earlier.
It was unclear whether the latest agreement differed from the one Trump announced two weeks earlier, which he said would make it easier for American industries to obtain the much-needed magnets and rare earth minerals. That pact cleared the way for the trade talks to continue, while the US agreed to stop trying to revoke visas of Chinese nationals on US college campuses.
China’s Commerce Ministry said Friday that the two sides had “further confirmed the details of the framework”.
But its statement did not explicitly mention US access to rare earths, minerals used in high-tech applications that have been at the centre of the negotiations.
“China will approve the export applications of controlled items that meet the conditions in accordance with the law. The United States will cancel a series of restrictive measures taken against China accordingly.
It is hoped that the United States and China will meet each other halfway,” it said.
The agreement follows initial talks in Geneva in early May that led both sides to postpone massive tariff hikes that were threatening to freeze much trade between the two countries. Later talks in London set a framework for negotiations and the deal mentioned by Trump appeared to formalize that agreement.
“The president likes to close these deals himself. He’s the dealmaker. We’re going to have deal after deal,” Lutnick said.
China has not announced any new agreements, but it announced earlier this week that it was speeding up approvals of exports of rare earths, materials used in high-tech products such as electric vehicles.
Beijing’s limits on exports of rare earths have been a key point of contention.
