US rare earth buyers still see China curbs despite Trump deal

China is still restricting the rare earth elements that the US needs to produce its own permanent magnets and other products even after President Donald Trump reached a deal with his Chinese counterpart in October to lift restrictions on the supplies, according to market participants.

More than a dozen consumers, producers, government officials and trade experts said that while China has boosted deliveries of finished products – primarily permanent magnets – the US industry remains unable to acquire the inputs needed to make those items on its own, a key priority for the administration. The people asked not to be identified discussing matters that aren’t public.

The reduced trade highlights continuing tensions in the US-China relationship in the months since Trump and Xi Jinping hammered out a truce in South Korea on October 30, with the US cutting tariffs and China pledging to restore rare earth supplies. At the time, Trump said the deal amounted to the “de facto removal” of a range of limits China had imposed. -Bloomberg