The White House reported on Thursday progress in trade with China, with a presidential official clarifying that the two sides ratified an agreement that specifically concerns the acceleration of rare earth deliveries to the United States.
Donald Trump said during an event that Washington had "signed" a trade deal with China, but without providing any other details.
A White House official later clarified to Agence France-Presse that Washington and Beijing ratified an agreement that had been reached in negotiations between the two governments.
Asked about Donald Trump's civil statement, US Commerce Secretary Howard Latnick, speaking to Bloomberg Television, referred to the negotiations in London, emphasizing that a framework agreement, which required approval at the top level, was "signed and sealed."
In mid-June, the US and China agreed in London on the "general framework" for resolving their trade disputes, which, however, still had to be ratified by the presidents of the world's two largest economies.
These negotiations followed those in May in Geneva, during which the two sides agreed to temporarily reduce the level of prohibitive customs duties they imposed on each other.
Rare earths were a key issue in the negotiations in the British capital, with the US demanding an acceleration in the pace of deliveries of these strategically important metals, which the White House considered unacceptably low.
These raw materials are considered critical for a variety of items, from electric batteries (for vehicles, for energy storage, etc.), to wind systems, and to defense industry products (missiles, radars, satellites, etc.).
Beijing, for its part, expected Washington to review the export control regime for specific American products, above all technological ones, to the Chinese market.
