- Chinese official says “tentative consensus” has been reached.
- US official expects China to delay rare earth limits for a year.
- Donald Trump is optimistic about deal as he meets Xi Jinping.
Top Chinese and U.S. economic officials on Sunday hashed out the framework for a trade deal that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could decide later this week that would put steeper U.S. tariffs and Chinese export controls on rare earths on hold, U.S. officials said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur had eliminated the threat of Trump’s 100% tariffs on Chinese imports from November 1.
Bessent also said he expects China to delay the implementation of its licensing scheme for rare earth minerals and magnets by a year while the policy is reconsidered.
Chinese officials were more circumspect about the talks, offering no details on the outcome of the meetings.
Trump and Xi are due to meet on Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, to sign the terms. While the White House has officially announced the long-awaited Trump-Xi talks, China has yet to confirm that the two leaders will meet.
“I think we have a very successful framework for the leaders to discuss on Thursday,” Bessent told reporters after he and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and top trade negotiator Li Chenggang for their fifth round of in-person discussions since May.
Bessent said he expects a truce with China to be extended beyond the Nov. 10 expiration date and that China will revive significant purchases of U.S. soybeans after buying none in September, while favoring soybeans from Brazil and Argentina.
U.S. soybean farmers “will feel very good about what happens both for this season and the coming seasons for several years” once the terms of the deal are announced, Bessent told ABC’s “This Week.”
Greer told the “Fox News Sunday” program that both sides agreed to pause some punitive actions and found “a way forward where we can get more access to rare earths from China, we can try to offset our trade deficit with sales from the United States.”
Trump expects a deal, Chinese suggest caution
China’s Li Chenggang said the two sides reached a “preliminary consensus” and will then go through their respective internal approval processes.
“The United States’ stance has been tough, while China has been firm in defending its own interests and rights,” Li said through an interpreter. “We have experienced very intense consultations and engaged in constructive exchanges to explore solutions and arrangements to address these concerns.”
Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, his first stop in a five-day Asia tour expected to culminate in Thursday’s face-to-face with Xi in South Korea.
After the weekend talks, Trump struck a positive tone, saying: “I think we’ll get a deal with China”.
Trump had threatened new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and other trade restrictions from November 1 in retaliation for China’s expanded export controls on rare earth magnets and minerals.
China controls more than 90% of the world’s supply of the materials essential to high-tech manufacturing from electric vehicles to semiconductors and missiles. The export controls and Trump’s threatened retaliation would disrupt a delicate six-month truce during which China and the United States reduced tariffs that had quickly escalated to triple-digit rates on each side.
The U.S. and Chinese officials said that in addition to rare earths, they discussed trade expansion, the U.S. fentanyl crisis, U.S. port entry fees and the transfer of TikTok to U.S. ownership control.
Bessent told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program that the two sides need to iron out the details of the TikTok deal, allowing Trump and Xi to “complete the transaction” in South Korea.
Talking points with Xi include soybeans, Taiwan
On the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, Trump hinted at possible meetings with Xi in China and the United States.
“We’ve agreed to meet. We’ll meet them later in China, and we’ll meet in the United States, either in Washington or at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said.
Among Trump’s points of discussion with Xi are Chinese purchases of American soybeans, concerns about Taiwan, which China considers its own territory, and the release of jailed Hong Kong media magnate Jimmy Lai.
Trump also said he will seek China’s help in US relations with Moscow as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues.
Tensions between the world’s two largest economies flared in the past few weeks as a delicate trade truce, reached after a first round of trade talks in Geneva in May and extended in August, failed to prevent the US and China from hitting each other with more sanctions, export restrictions and threats of stronger retaliatory measures.
China’s expanded controls on rare earth exports have caused a global shortage. That has prompted the United States to consider a block on software-driven exports to China, from laptops to jet engines, according to a Reuters report.
