Trump Secures Trade Wins, but Rare-Earth Standoff With China Persists
Udumbara
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump has secured trade wins in recent weeks, striking deals with several significant trading partners. But one critical fight remains unresolved: China.
Despite a recent uptick in rare-earth shipments, China is still falling short of its commitments, Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told The Epoch Times.
“In the last month, there’s been a big, big increase, but I think that we’re all still hoping for more,” Hassett said on July 30.
U.S. negotiators, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, most recently met with their Chinese counterparts in Stockholm, Sweden, for another round of high-level talks.
Bessent also said the extension of the 90-day truce, announced by Beijing, may have been premature. He indicated that he would brief Trump to get his approval.
While Bessent didn’t address the rare-earth issue, he said there were still a few technical details that both sides need to resolve before the Aug. 12 deadline.
“I’m confident that it will be done, but it’s not 100 percent done,” he said.
If no deal is reached, Trump could restore high reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods. Before the 90-day truce was implemented, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods reached 145 percent, while Beijing’s retaliatory tariff rate on U.S. goods was at 125 percent.
In response to Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, Beijing also tightened export controls on seven rare-earth elements—samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium—straining supply chains critical to the U.S. defense, aerospace, and automotive sectors.
The latest restrictions followed a December 2024 export ban on three key minerals—antimony, gallium, and germanium—imposed in retaliation for then-President Joe Biden’s technology curbs targeting the Chinese communist regime.
In recent years, Beijing has weaponized its dominance over global mineral markets to exert geopolitical leverage. China produces and refines the vast majority of these materials and has used similar tactics since 2010, when it first banned exports to Japan over a fishing trawler dispute.
China’s June exports of germanium and antimony plunged by 95 percent and 88 percent, respectively, from January levels, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.
Beijing has also cracked down on transshipment, limiting U.S. efforts to source germanium and antimony from countries such as Thailand and Mexico. For example, China’s antimony exports to Thailand have dropped by 90 percent since April, while shipments to Mexico have stalled.
Shen Ming-shih, director of the Division of National Security Research at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times that because germanium and antimony are critical to the development of satellites and high-tech weapons, China is unwilling to lift export restrictions immediately.
The resulting shortages have sent prices soaring. The spot price of high-purity germanium has more than doubled since China imposed export controls, while antimony prices have almost quadrupled since May 2024.
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