China accuses US of ‘serious violation’ of trade truce

China has accused the United States of “seriously violating” a trade truce between the two countries and vowed to take strong measures to protect its interests, the Financial Times reported, as tensions over supplies of critical minerals flared up again.

China and the United States reached a deal in Geneva in early May that would temporarily reduce their tariffs, which had risen to 145%, and which Washington said would restore the flow of critical rare earths and related magnets to the United States.

President Donald Trump said on Friday that Beijing had “completely violated” the agreement, as US officials grew increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of rare earth exports from China since the May 12 deal was signed.

But on Monday, China’s commerce ministry said it supported the deal, accusing Washington of introducing “a series of discriminatory and restrictive measures” in recent weeks that undermined the Geneva consensus and harmed “China’s legitimate rights and interests.”

“If the US insists on its own path and continues to harm China’s interests, China will continue to take resolute and strong measures to safeguard its legitimate rights,” the ministry said.

Among the actions the US mentioned in the statement were warnings about the use of Huawei chips worldwide, halting the sale of chip development software to Chinese companies and revoking visas for Chinese students. US officials, for their part, had believed the May 12 deal would lift export restrictions on rare earth elements that Beijing announced in early April, and have grown increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of approval.

The people familiar with the matter said the United States had raised the issue privately with Chinese officials several times since the Geneva agreement and warned Beijing of concerns in Washington, and Trump was closely monitoring it.

That prompted China to expedite the issuance of licenses for some shipments of rare earths bound for the United States, a source familiar with the Chinese government’s thinking said, citing bureaucratic reasons for the delays. The issuance, the source said, prevented a complete breakdown of the trade truce.

While China had approved nearly a dozen shipments of rare earths to the United States, dozens more applications remained in question, according to a person close to the United States.

“The fact that they’re hiding some of the products that they agreed to release under our deal, maybe it’s a glitch in the Chinese system, maybe it’s intentional, we’ll see after the president talks to the party chairman,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with CBS on Sunday.

“China is hiding products that are critical to the industrial supply chains of India, Europe, and that’s not what a trusted partner does,” he added.

However, Bessent said he was confident that Trump and Xi could resolve their differences over rare earths during an upcoming phone call, which some White House officials have suggested could take place this week.

Tags: China, USA