US and Chinese officials have agreed on a framework to revive their trade truce and address China’s export restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday, following two days of high-level negotiations in London.
Lutnick told reporters that the framework puts “meat on the bones” of a deal reached last month in Geneva to ease retaliatory tariffs that had faltered over China’s curbs on critical minerals exports. The deal also will remove some US export restrictions that were recently put in place, he said.
Framework Needs Approval
“We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents,” Lutnick said. “The idea is we’re going to go back and speak to President Trump and make sure he approves it. They’re going to go back and speak to President Xi and make sure he approves it, and if that is approved, we will then implement the framework.”
The top US and Chinese economic officials were pushing for a deal that would ease duelling export controls that had threatened to unravel the Geneva accord that cut tariffs back from triple-digit levels.
In a separate briefing, China’s Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang also said a trade framework had been reached that would be taken back to US and Chinese leaders.
“The two sides have, in principle, reached a framework for implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state during the phone call on June 5th and the consensus reached at the Geneva meeting,” Li told reporters.
Restrictions To Be Lifted
Lutnick said China’s restrictions on exports of rare earth minerals and magnets to the US will be resolved as a “fundamental” part of the framework agreement.
“Also, there were a number of measures the United States of America put on when those rare earths were not coming,” Lutnick said. “You should expect those to come off, sort of as President Trump said, in a balanced way.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
