It’s unclear exactly why trade negotiations between the United States and China have halted, but at least one area—critical minerals—can help them resume.
In a CNBC interview on Friday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer made this suggestion, just a day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outlined the conditions for a negotiation breakthrough and shortly after President Donald Trump’s pessimistic remarks contributed to stock futures’ decline.
Greer was particularly explicit about these vital minerals, or rare-earth exports, but also stated that China is “slow rolling” its adherence to a preliminary trade agreement reached earlier this month.
China has “restricted the flow of rare-earth magnets to us and other countries in the world,” Greer stated.
“And so when they agreed in Geneva to remove their tariff and their countermeasures, they removed the tariff like we did, but some of the countermeasures, they slowed on,” he continued. “You can see that Europe, Japan, the United States, elsewhere, we haven’t seen the flow of some of the critical minerals as they were supposed to be doing.”
Despite the 90-day trade-war truce agreed to with the United States, CNN reported last week that China seemed to be keeping strict control over its rare-earth exports. Since the components are widely utilized in many different items, such as defense equipment, electric cars, and telephones, maintaining control provides China negotiating leverage.
As part of the agreement made in Geneva this month, China reduced its levy on American imports from 125% to 10%, and the United States agreed to temporarily lower its tariff against goods coming into the country from China from 145% to 30%.
Bessent described the trade talks as “a bit stalled,” and it’s possible that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will speak over the phone to resume them.
However, Trump did not seem prepared for talks as of Friday morning, stating on Truth Social that “China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, has totally violated its agreement with us.”
Following Trump’s statement, U.S. stocks, the DJIA, opened Friday lower.
Live stock market coverage: Wall Street considers a Friday influx of economic data as stocks fluctuate following Trump’s criticism of China.
