President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that he had “a very good phone call” with Chinese President Xi Jinping amid a trade war sparked by Trump’s sweeping global tariffs on imports from China and other nations.
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said he discussed “some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal” and that the conversation “resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries.”
“There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products. Our respective teams will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined. We will be represented by Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer,” Trump continued.
During the conversation, President Xi graciously invited the First Lady and me to visit China, and I reciprocated. As Presidents of two Great Nations, this is something that we both look forward to doing. The conversation was focused almost entirely on TRADE. Nothing was discussed concerning Russia/Ukraine, or Iran. We will inform the Media as to scheduling and location of the soon to be meeting. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
China’s government recently slapped export controls on certain rare earths, including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium, in response to Trump’s tariffs, according to Axios. The country dominates the production of these minerals, which are essential for technology.
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Zoom out: There are 17 rare earth elements, according to the Science History Institute. They have unusual fluorescent, conductive and magnetic properties, and they're hard to separate chemically.
"The development of China's rare earth elements industry is closely connected to China's reentry into global trade after 1978 and its government's successful efforts to make the country a global manufacturing power," per the Institute.
These minerals are used to manufacture a variety of important products, as BBC pointed out.
Although you may not be familiar with the names of these rare earths - like neodymium, yttrium and europium - you will be very familiar with the products that they are used in.
For instance, neodymium is used to make the powerful magnets used in loudspeakers, computer hard drives, EV motors and jet engines that enable them to be smaller and more efficient.
Yttrium and europium are used to manufacture television and computer screens because of the way they display colours.
"Everything you can switch on or off likely runs on rare earths," explains Thomas Kruemmer, Director of Ginger International Trade and Investment.
Rare earths are also critical to the production of medical technology like laser surgery and MRI scans, as well as key defence technologies.
China almost has a monopoly on the extraction and refining of these rare earths. BBC noted that the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the country produces 61 percent of the world’s rare earth production and 92 percent of their processing.
The trade deal is intended to address imbalances by decreasing tariffs and dealing with non-tariff trade barriers such as subsidies on labor and capital in China. The Chinese government has agreed to work harder to stem the flow of deadly fentanyl into the US.
The Trump administration touted the deal as a “win” for both Washington and Beijing. The president referred to it as a “total reset” of trade relations between the two countries.
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