U.S., China Cut Deal Only On Rare Earth Shipments: CNN

China has signaled that it would approve the export of rare earth minerals to the U.S., just hours after White House officials said the two sides had reached a deal—a potential breakthrough after weeks of negotiations over U.S. access to the critical materials, John Liu and Simone McCarthy reported for CNN.

A long road still lies ahead to achieving a comprehensive and final trade agreement between the two global economic powers. I Photo: China Daily

“China will approve the export application of controlled items that meet the conditions in accordance with the law.

The United States will cancel a series of restrictive measures taken against China accordingly,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said, as also reported by Danny Kemp for Agence France-Presse (AFP).

However, analysts noted that China’s dual-use export restrictions still prohibit shipments to military suppliers, leaving U.S. defense contractors without access to such materials.

China controls around 90% of global rare earth processing, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), as reported by Medora Lee of USA Today.

Nandita Bose and David Lawder of Reuters wrote that the deal outlines a framework for implementing the Geneva trade talks consensus.

While China has pledged to approve export applications in accordance with its laws, the announcement did not explicitly mention rare earths.

Although the agreement suggests progress after months of trade uncertainty and disruption since President Trump took office in January, it also underscores the long road ahead to achieving a comprehensive and final trade agreement between the two global economic powers.