United States Moves Forward With China, Japan On Pacts To Address Rare Earths, Critical Minerals, And More

On October 29, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached a trade agreement that includes reducing U.S. tariffs on goods coming into the country from China and a pause in China’s new rare-earth export restrictions. The agreement also addresses issues related to some agricultural imports.

More specifically, as Politico and other news outlets have explained, the tentative agreement would result in:

• The U.S. government immediately reducing its fentanyl-related tariffs on imports from China from 57 percent to 47 percent (other tariffs, including most Section 232 tariffs, would stay the same);
• President Trump dropping his threat to add an additional 100 percent tariff on most Chinese products;
• The Chinese government pausing for one year its plan to impose new restrictions on the export of rare earth materials and critical minerals; and
• Potential purchases by the Chinese government of oil and gas from Alaska. (South Korean leaders also made a similar pledge last week. As The Hill reported, in a post on social media, President Trump said officials from that government have agreed to purchase U.S. oil and gas in “vast quantities” if the U.S. government lowers tariffs on South Korean products.)

Last week President Trump also announced a deal with the Japanese government to partner on the mining and processing of rare earths and critical minerals. In the proclamation, available at this link, the two countries pledged “their cooperative efforts to accelerate the secure supply of critical minerals and rare earths necessary to support domestic industries, including advanced technologies and their respective industrial bases.”

Specifically, the deal calls for:

• Joint project identification, including a timeframe of six months — by April 2026 — to provide support to enable financing of these types of projects;
• Reforms to permitting in both countries to speed up approval of mining and processing projects;
• Addressing non-market policies and unfair trade practices in critical minerals and reviewing and deterring “asset sales”; and
• Other actions to strengthen cooperation, fix supply chain vulnerabilities, and discover new sources of critical minerals.