China Removes Rare Earths Duties
To comply with a 2014 World Trade Organization ruling, in late April China announced it would remove its export quota and its export duties on rare earth minerals. (China ended the duties on May 1.)
According to Politico’s “Morning Trade,” U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman “stopped short of saying Beijing has complied with the ruling,” but praised the announcement and the process that led to it. Froman said, “We've shown once again that vigorous trade enforcement can and does produce real results. The Chinese duties and quotas that will now stop had forced American manufacturers to pay as much as 300 percent more than what their Chinese competitors pay for the same materials. We will be closely monitoring China's actions to ensure that these illegal policies are in fact discontinued and that China fully complies with its obligations.”