US signals willingness to remove tech export restrictions with China
Trade talks between the US and China kicked off in London on Monday, with the US signalling a willingness to remove restrictions on some tech exports in exchange for assurances that China is easing limits on rare earth shipments.
Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House's national economic council, told CNBC that the Trump administration expects that 'after the handshake' in London, 'any export controls from the US will be eased and the rare earths will be released in volume' by China.
Mr Hassett's comments from Washington were the clearest signal yet that the US is willing to offer such a concession, although he added that the US would stop short of including the most sophisticated US chips made by Nvidia used to power artificial intelligence.
'The very, very high-end Nvidia stuff is not what I'm talking about,' Mr Hassett said, adding that restrictions would not be lifted on the Nvidia H2O chips that are used to train AI services.
'I'm talking about possible export controls on other semiconductors, which are also very important to them [China],' he said.
US stocks flipped between small gains and losses, and Chinese shares trading in Hong Kong entered a bull market as investors expressed hope the talks signalled a cooling of trade tensions.
Bloomberg
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Car makers 'in full panic' over rare-earths shortage amid China's export controls
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RTÉ News
5 hours ago
- RTÉ News
China and US resume trade talks in London
Top US and Chinese officials were meeting in London today to try to defuse a high-stakes trade dispute that has widened beyond tit-for-tat tariffs to restrictions over rare earths, threatening to cripple supply chains and slow global growth. Officials from the two superpowers were meeting at the ornate Lancaster House to try to get back on track with a preliminary agreement struck last month in Geneva that had briefly lowered the temperature between Washington and Beijing. Since then the US has accused China of slow-walking on its commitments, particularly around rare earths shipments. US economic adviser Kevin Hassett said that the US team wanted a handshake from China on rare earths after Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping spoke last week. "The purpose of the meeting today is to make sure that they're serious, but to literally get handshakes," Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC in an interview. He said the expectation was that immediately after the handshake, export controls would be eased and rare earths released in volume. The talks, which could run into Tuesday, come at a crucial time for both economies, with investors looking for relief from Trump's cascade of tariff orders since his return to the White House in January. China's export growth slowed to a three-month low in May while its factory-gate deflation deepened to its worst level in two years. In the US, the trade war has put a huge dent in businessand household confidence, and first-quarter gross domestic product contracted due to a record surge in imports as Americansfront loaded purchases to beat anticipated price increases. But for now, the impact on inflation has been muted, and the jobs market has remained fairly resilient, though economists expect cracks to become more apparent over the summer. Attending the talks in London will be US TreasurySecretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and a Chinese contingent helmed by Vice Premier He Lifeng. The inclusion of Lutnick, whose agency oversees export controls for the US, is one indication of how central rareearths have become. China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets, a crucial component in electric vehicle motors. Lutnick did not attend the Geneva talks at which the countries struck a 90-day deal to roll back some of the triple-digit tariffs they had placed on each other. The second round of meetings comes four days after Trump and Xi spoke by phone, their first direct interaction since Trump's January 20 inauguration. During the more than one-hour-long call, Xi told Trump to backdown from trade measures that roiled the global economy and warned him against threatening steps on Taiwan, according to a Chinese government summary. But Trump said on social media the talks focused primarily on trade led to "a very positive conclusion," setting the stage for Monday's meeting in London. The next day, Trump said Xi had agreed to resume shipments to the US of rare earths minerals and magnets and Reuters reported on Friday that China has granted temporary export licenses to rare-earth suppliers of the top three US automakers. China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the Fox News program "Sunday Morning Futures" that the US wanted the two sides to build on the progress made in Geneva in the hope they could move towards more comprehensive trade talks. The preliminary deal in Geneva sparked a global relief rally in stock markets, and US indexes that had been in or near bear market levels have recouped the lion's share of their losses. The S&P 500 Index, which at its lowest point in early April was down nearly 18% after Trump unveiled his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs on goods from across the globe, is now only about 2% below its record high from mid-February. The final third of that rally followed the US-China truce struck in Geneva. Still, that temporary deal did not address broader concerns that strain the bilateral relationship, from the illicit fentanyl trade to the status of democratically governed Taiwan and US complaints about China's state-dominated, export-driven economic model. While the UK government will provide a venue for Monday's discussions, it will not be party to them and will have separate talks later in the week with the Chinese delegation.
Irish Examiner
8 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
US signals willingness to remove tech export restrictions with China
Trade talks between the US and China kicked off in London on Monday, with the US signalling a willingness to remove restrictions on some tech exports in exchange for assurances that China is easing limits on rare earth shipments. Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House's national economic council, told CNBC that the Trump administration expects that 'after the handshake' in London, 'any export controls from the US will be eased and the rare earths will be released in volume' by China. Mr Hassett's comments from Washington were the clearest signal yet that the US is willing to offer such a concession, although he added that the US would stop short of including the most sophisticated US chips made by Nvidia used to power artificial intelligence. 'The very, very high-end Nvidia stuff is not what I'm talking about,' Mr Hassett said, adding that restrictions would not be lifted on the Nvidia H2O chips that are used to train AI services. 'I'm talking about possible export controls on other semiconductors, which are also very important to them [China],' he said. US stocks flipped between small gains and losses, and Chinese shares trading in Hong Kong entered a bull market as investors expressed hope the talks signalled a cooling of trade tensions. Bloomberg Read More Car makers 'in full panic' over rare-earths shortage amid China's export controls
RTÉ News
9 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Monkey business delays Sri Lanka's wildlife survey
Sri Lanka is withholding the results of a survey of crop-destroying wildlife, including monkeys and peacocks, because data collected from some farmers appeared unrealistic, a minister said. Deputy Environment Minister Anton Jayakodi said authorities had begun a review of the nationwide survey conducted on 15 March, the first of its kind, because "some of the data was unbelievable". Authorities suggested some enraged farmers might have exaggerated the numbers to suggest that the problem was even bigger. Data in some places appeared "unusually high", officials said. Residents across the island country were asked to count wild boar, peacocks, monkeys and lorises - a small, largely nocturnal primate - spotted near farms and homes during a five-minute period. "We started the survey to understand the size of the problem," Mr Jayakodi told reporters in Colombo. "But we now have to review the results... there have been issues with some unusual data." Mr Jayakodi said officials would return to assess data before releasing the final results of the survey, which was aimed at drawing up a national plan to deal with nuisance wildlife. Opposition legislator Nalin Bandara said the survey was "a complete failure, a waste of money". Officials say more than a third of crops are destroyed by wild animals, including elephants that are protected by law because they are considered sacred. While elephants are major raiders of rice farms and fruit plantations, they were not included in the March count. The then agricultural minister proposed in 2023 exporting some 100,000 toque macaques to Chinese zoos but the monkey business was abandoned following protests from environmentalists.
