US hopes to finalise rare earths deal with China by November, says Bessent

WASHINGTON – US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Nov 16 that Washington hopes to finalise a deal with China for securing supplies of rare earths by the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November.

Under the tentative deal – reached in late October at a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea – Beijing agreed to

suspend for one year certain export restrictions

on critical minerals.

China is hugely dominant in the mining and processing of rare earths, which are essential for sophisticated electronic components across a range of industries including auto, electronics and defence.

“We haven’t even finished the agreement, which we hope to have done by Thanksgiving,” which falls on Nov 27, Mr Bessent said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures programme.

“And I am confident that – post our meeting in (South) Korea between the two leaders, President Trump, President Xi – that China will honour their agreements.”

But, Mr Bessent warned, if Beijing baulks, the US has “lots of levers” to retaliate.

The Treasury Secretary insisted that under the deal, rare earths “will flow freely as they did before April 4”, when China slapped restrictions on the sector, requiring export licences for certain products in response to Mr Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

Under the deal reached by Mr Trump and Mr Xi, the US will cut back tariffs on Chinese products, and Beijing will buy at least 12 million tonnes of American soya beans by the end of 2025 and 25 million tonnes in 2026.

China, which had

stopped buying US soya beans

in response to Mr Trump’s tariffs, “made pawns out of our great soya bean farmers”, Mr Bessent said.

“But we believe that we have remedied that.”

Mr Bessent also disputed a recent Wall Street Journal report that said Chinese officials planned to restrict access to

rare earths for US companies with ties to the military

. AFP, REUTERS