Lutnick says US-China trade truce signed, 10 deals imminent

The Star

8 hours ago

FILE PHOTO: A man works at the site of a rare earth metals mine at Nancheng county, Jiangxi province, China, October 20, 2010. The terms laid out in trade talks between Beijing and Washington include a commitment from China to deliver rare earths used in everything from wind turbines to jet planes. - Reuters
WASHINGTON: The US and China finalised a trade understanding reached last month in Geneva, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, adding that the White House has imminent plans to reach agreements with a set of ten major trading partners.
The China deal, which Lutnick said had been signed two days ago, 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.
A White House official said the US and China agreed to the terms to implement the Geneva accord. A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment, while China's Foreign Ministry in Beijing didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday (June 27).
The offshore yuan was little changed on the news and China's equity futures were yet to open. Futures on the S&P 500 Index were steady.
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 violating the terms of previous handshake accords. Yet it still hinges on future actions by both nations, including China's export of rare earth materials.
Lutnick told Bloomberg Television that President Donald Trump was also prepared to finalise 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 ten 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, though earlier Thursday Trump suggested the US was nearing an agreement with India.
The president has also said that he will ultimately send "letters' to countries dictating trade terms if agreements aren't reached in time. Countries will be sorted into "proper buckets' on July 9, Lutnick added. 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.'
The president announced so-called reciprocal rates - reaching as high as 50 per cent - on April 2 but later paused the bulk of them for 90 days to allow for negotiations.
It's not yet clear how comprehensive those trade deals will 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 China accord Lutnick described is far from a comprehensive trade deal that addresses thorny questions about fentanyl trafficking and American exporters' access to Chinese markets.
After an initial round of negotiations in Geneva resulted in a reduction in tariffs imposed by both countries, the US and China accused each other of violating their agreement. After subsequent talks in London this month, negotiators from the US and China announced they had arrived at an understanding, pending approval from Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Lutnick said that under the agreement inked two days ago, US "countermeasures' imposed ahead of the London talks would be lifted - but only once rare earth materials start flowing from China. Those US measures include export curbs on materials, such as ethane that's used to make plastic, chip software and jet engines.
The agreement comes as the US moves to ease restrictions on exports of ethane, with the Commerce Department 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 authorisation.
Bloomberg previously reported that American firms reliant on those Chinese minerals are still waiting on Beijing's approval for shipments. - Bloomberg