Nikkei is reporting that:
- Discrepancies have emerged over the details of China's agreement with the US to pause rare earth export restrictions.
- Washington says pass controls will also be eliminated. China has not announced they were on board with that.
There seems to be a bit of a disconnect.
Earlier today, the Federal Register posted the details of an Executive Agreement whereby it said:
Under the Arrangement, the PRC has committed to, among other things, postpone and effectively eliminate the PRC's current and proposed coercive global export controls on rare earth elements and other critical minerals, and address Chinese retaliation against United States semiconductor manufacturers and other major companies in the 3 semiconductor supply chain. The PRC has also committed to purchase United States agricultural exports integral to the economy and general welfare of the United States, including soybeans, sorghum, and logs. And the PRC has committed to suspend or remove many retaliatory actions against the United States, including suspending tariffs on a vast swath of United States agricultural products until December 31, 2026, and extending the PRC's market-based tariff exclusion process for United States imports until November 10, 2026. The United States, in turn, committed to, among other things, maintain the suspension of heightened reciprocal tariffs on imports of the PRC until 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on November 10, 2026.
It was added that:
I determined that it was necessary and appropriate to address the emergency declared in Executive Order 14257 by suspending application of the heightened ad valorem duties imposed on the PRC under Executive Order 14257, as amended, and to instead impose on articles of the PRC an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 10 percent.
