The US and China have finalized a trade understanding reached last month in Geneva, Switzerland, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said on Thursday, adding that the White House has imminent plans to reach agreements with a set of 10 major trading partners.
The China deal, which Lutnick said had been signed this week, codifies the terms laid out in trade talks between Beijing and Washington, including a commitment from China to deliver rare earths used in everything from wind turbines to jet planes.
“They’re going to deliver rare earths to us” and once they do that, “we’ll take down our countermeasures,” Lutnick told Bloomberg News in an interview.
Photo: AP
China said it has further confirmed details of a trade framework with the US, echoing Lutnick’s earlier comments about a US-China agreement.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce made the announcement in a statement yesterday, while reiterating that it would continue to approve export permits of controlled items.
A White House official said that the US and China agreed to the terms to implement the Geneva accord.
The China agreement sets out the terms laid out in trade talks between Beijing and Washington this year — a milestone after both sides have accused each other of contravening the terms of previous handshake accords. Yet it still hinges on future actions by both nations, including China’s export of rare earths.
Lutnick told Bloomberg Television that US President Donald Trump was also prepared to finalize a slate of trade deals in the coming two weeks in connection with the president’s July 9 deadline to reinstate higher tariffs he paused in April.
“We’re going to do top 10 deals, put them in the right category, and then these other countries will fit behind,” he said.
Lutnick did not specify which nations would be part of that first wave of trade pacts, although earlier on Thursday Trump suggested the US was nearing an agreement with India.
The president has also said that he would ultimately send “letters” to nations dictating trade terms if agreements are not reached in time.
Nations would be sorted into “proper buckets” on July 9, Lutnick said.
Trump could also extend deadlines to allow for more talks.
“Those who have deals will have deals, and everybody else that is negotiating with us, they’ll get a response from us and then they’ll go into that package,” Lutnick said. “If people want to come back and negotiate further, they’re entitled to, but that tariff rate will be set and off we’ll go.”
Trump announced so-called “reciprocal” rates — reaching as high as 50 percent — on April 2, but later paused the bulk of them for 90 days to allow for negotiations.
It is not yet clear how comprehensive the trade deals would be. Trade agreements typically take years — not mere months — to negotiate. An earlier pact with the UK still leaves major questions undecided, including a discount for some imported metals.
The agreement comes as the US moves to ease restrictions on exports of ethane, with the US Department of Commerce earlier this week telling energy companies they could load that petroleum gas on to tankers and ship it to China, but not unload it there without authorization.
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