U.S. Trade Representative: We Have Completed Half of Ensuring Rare Earth Magnets Flow from China to the U.S.
After three rounds of economic and trade negotiations further stabilized the bilateral economic relationship, U.S. Trade Representative Griles expressed cautious optimism about the negotiations with China on rare earth supply issues.
Griles pointed out that key industrial components were the focus of the talks between the U.S. and China in Stockholm last week, and Beijing stated that this round of talks led to an extension of the tariff truce agreement between the two countries. Griles did not reveal details, but in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation" broadcast on Sunday, he said that he had obtained China's supply commitment.
When asked by host Brennan, "Speaking of trade, the major unresolved issue is (Trump) President's response to China? The deadline is August 12, you said earlier that if not completed on time, the tariff level may rise above 80%. Will this deadline be postponed?"
Griles answered, "That is what is currently being discussed. I would say that our dialogue with the Chinese side has been very positive. We have had dialogues at the staff level, including my own level. You know, the leaders of the two countries have also had dialogues."
Griles introduced, "We are dealing with some technical issues and communicating with (Trump) President. You know, I think things are moving in a positive direction. I won't speak ahead of the president, but you know, I think no one wants to see tariffs rebound to 84%."
When asked whether any commitments had been received from the Chinese side during the two-day talks in Stockholm, Griles said, "Yes, we did. Yes, we have talked about it, and I will not elaborate because you know, it is a confidential dialogue between the governments of the two countries, but the focus was indeed on rare earth magnets and minerals."
Griles added, "You may have heard that China has implemented global controls on the world, so for the U.S., our focus is to ensure that the magnets flow from China to the U.S., and the related supply chains can freely circulate as they did before. I think we have completed half of it."
Bloomberg reported that the latest customs data showed that China's exports of rare earth magnets to the U.S. increased to 353 tons in June, up from 46 tons in May. However, total exports are still far below the levels before the Chinese government implemented export controls in early April.
Griles previously stated that Trump's trade team hoped to conclude discussions on the magnet issue after the third round of economic and trade negotiations with China in the capital of Sweden in late July. He added that if the magnet issue could be resolved, further discussions on Sino-U.S. relations could follow.
Despite many remaining frictions, including U.S. restrictions on exporting advanced artificial intelligence chips to China, these discussions have helped stabilize the relationship between the world's two largest economies.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1839548188033035/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.