WRAPPED UP BY LABOUR DAY
Earlier on Friday, Bessent said the Trump administration’s various trade deals with other countries could be done by the Sept 1 Labour Day holiday, citing talks with 18 top trade partners and another revision to a deal with China to reopen the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets.
After a week where tariffs took a back seat to the U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and the massive tax and spending bill in the U.S. Congress, the Trump administration’s trade negotiations have picked up.
The United States sent a new proposal to the European Union on Thursday and India sent a delegation to Washington for more talks.
“So we have countries approaching us with very good deals,” Bessent said on Fox Business Network.
“We have 18 important trading partners … If we can ink 10 or 12 of the important 18, there are another important 20 relationships, then I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labour Day,” Bessent said.
He did not mention any changes to a Jul 9 deadline for countries to reach deals with the United States or see tariffs spike higher, but has previously said that countries negotiating in good faith could get deals.
But Trump told reporters at the White House that he could extend the tariff deadline or “make it shorter,” adding that within the next week and a half, he would notify countries of their tariff rates.
“I’d like to just send letters out to everybody: Congratulations. You’re paying 25 per cent tariffs.”
NEW U.S.-CHINA EXPORT REVISIONS
Bessent said the United States and China had resolved issues surrounding shipments of Chinese rare earth minerals and magnets to the U.S., further modifying a deal reached in May in Geneva.
As part of its retaliation against new U.S. tariffs, China suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, upending supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.
During U.S.-China talks in May in Geneva, Beijing committed to removing the measures imposed since Apr 2, but those critical materials were not moving as fast as agreed, Bessent said, so the U.S. put countermeasures in place.
“I am confident now that we, as agreed, the magnets will flow,” Bessent said, adding that these materials would go to U.S. firms that had received them previously on a regular basis. He did not disclose details of the latest agreement, which Trump administration officials said was reached earlier this week.
Efforts to resolve the dispute included a phone call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which led to teams from both sides meeting again in London, as negotiators try to end a trade war between the world’s biggest economies.
China’s commerce ministry said on Friday the two countries have confirmed details on the framework of implementing the Geneva trade talks consensus. It said China will approve export applications of controlled items in accordance with the law. It did not mention rare earths.
