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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/11/us-china-trade-talks-framework-deal-amid-dispute-over-rare-earths
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| US and China agree framework deal to extend trade war truce | |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| Donald Trump and Xi Jinping must now approve plan, which agrees to ease restrictions on rare earths and chips | |
| The US and China have extended the truce in their trade war after two days of talks in London that resulted in a “framework” deal over export restrictions on rare earths and semiconductors. | |
| Negotiations to resolve the wider tariff war triggered by Donald Trump in April will continue but the truce settles, for now, growing tension between the two economic super-powers. | |
| Talks were led by the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, who left London on Tuesday night to return to Congress but left the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and the trade representative, Jamieson Greer, to pick up on talks again on Wednesday. | |
| The negotiations broke up before 10pm, ending almost 20 hours of discussions. | |
| Lutnick expressed optimism on Tuesday that concerns about critical or “rare earth” minerals and magnets, which are vital to a range of industries including cars, electronics and defence, “will be resolved” as the deal is implemented. | |
| The US delegation was headed by Bessent while the China vice-premier He Lifeng – a seasoned negotiator at the top of the Chinese government, who led talks in Geneva in May, again headed up Beijing’s delegation. | |
| The wider dispute, triggered by Trump’s decision to impose triple-digit tariffs on Chinese imports in April – since eased to a baseline 30% – has yet to be resolved with China’s exports to the US plunging 35% year on year in May. | |
| Both sides had accused each other of reneging on a preliminary trade deal struck in Geneva last month, with China putting restrictions on exports of rare earths and the US continuing curbs on semiconductor exports. | |
| But the trade war has already caused damage on both sides whatever the positioning and rhetoric. | |
| China’s exports to the US plunged 35% year on year in May. | |
| The choked global supply of rare earths, which China controls, was already threatening to halt production in the automotive sector this summer on both sides of the Atlantic, with permanent magnets used in everything from windscreen wipers to doors. | |
| Lutnick told reporters that Tuesday’s framework puts “meat on the bones” of a deal reached last month in Geneva to ease retaliatory tariffs. Its implementation had faltered over China’s curbs on critical mineral exports. The deal also would remove some US export restrictions that were recently put in place, Lutnick said. | |
| “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.” | “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.” |
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| In a separate briefing, China’s vice commerce minister Li Chenggang said a trade framework had been reached that would be taken back to US and Chinese leaders. | In a separate briefing, China’s vice commerce minister Li Chenggang 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 5 June and the consensus reached at the Geneva meeting,” Li told reporters. | |
| Lutnick said China’s restrictions on exports of critical minerals and magnets to the US would 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.” | Lutnick said China’s restrictions on exports of critical minerals and magnets to the US would 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.” |
| Li said: “Our communication has been very professional, rational, in-depth and candid.” | Li said: “Our communication has been very professional, rational, in-depth and candid.” |
| All eyes were on the outcomes of negotiations as both sides were at an impasse over export restrictions, with US officials earlier accusing Beijing of slow-walking approvals for shipments of critical minerals. | All eyes were on the outcomes of negotiations as both sides were at an impasse over export restrictions, with US officials earlier accusing Beijing of slow-walking approvals for shipments of critical minerals. |
| The world’s two biggest economies were also seeking a longer-lasting truce in their escalating tariffs war, with levies reduced temporarily. “We’re moving as quickly as we can,” Greer told reporters. “We feel positive about engaging with the Chinese.” | |
| Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report | |