US seeks deal in London on China rare earth flows, Hassett says

US negotiators will aim to restore the flow of critical minerals when they meet their Chinese counterparts for a new round of trade negotiations Monday in London, a top economic aide to President Donald Trump said. 

“Those exports of critical minerals have been getting released at a rate that is, you know, higher than it was but not as high as we believe we agreed to in Geneva,” Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Sunday during an interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. 

Rare earth flows became a new flashpoint in the testy bilateral relations in recent weeks. Top US officials including Trade Representative Jamieson Greer accused Beijing of failing to comply with the elements of the trade agreement brokered last month in Geneva by slowing down and choking off critical minerals needed for cutting-edge electronics.  

Trump on Friday described talks with China as “very far advanced” and said that Xi Jinping agreed to speed shipments of the critical rare-earth minerals. China said on Saturday it approved some applications for rare earth exports but didn’t elaborate on the products’ applications or destinations.

“I’m very comfortable that this deal is about to be closed,” Hassett told CBS, without elaborating on the exact terms to be negotiated by the two sides during the London talks. 

“We want the rare earths, the magnets that are crucial for cellphones and everything else, to flow just as they did before the beginning of April,” he said. “We don’t want any technical details slowing that down.”  

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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