The White House said that China will essentially halt the implementation of new export restrictions on key rare earth elements and will end investigations aimed at U.S. firms involved in the semiconductor supply chain. According to Bloomberg, which cited a White House fact sheet released Saturday, the announcement reflects the trade agreement reached earlier this week between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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As part of the arrangement, China will grant general export licenses for rare earth materials — including gallium, germanium, antimony, and graphite — “for the benefit of U.S. end users and their suppliers around the world.” The White House said this amounts to lifting the export controls put in place by China in April 2025 and October 2022. Both governments previously indicated that Beijing would delay tighter restrictions announced in October 2025 for an additional year.
In return, the United States will extend a pause on some of the President’s “reciprocal tariffs” against China for one more year, and will suspend plans to impose a 100% tariff on Chinese goods entering the U.S. — a tariff that had been scheduled to take effect in November. The White House also confirmed that the U.S. will extend the expiration of selected Section 301 tariff exemptions — currently set to end Nov. 29, 2025 — pushing them to Nov. 10, 2026.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not offer immediate comment on Saturday.
This meeting between Trump and Xi — their first in person during the President’s second term — resulted in short-term stabilization of a tense trade relationship. China agreed to postpone broad restrictions on rare earth magnets, while the U.S. agreed to dial back recently expanded limitations affecting Chinese companies.
Additionally, the U.S. agreed to reduce a fentanyl-related tariff from 20% to 10%, and in exchange, China will resume buying American soybeans and other agricultural goods. The U.S. stated that China will purchase 12 million metric tons of soybeans during the current season and commit to at least 25 million metric tons annually for the following three years. On Friday, the President said he hopes to eliminate all fentanyl-related tariffs if China continues efforts to restrict exports of fentanyl and the precursor chemicals used to manufacture it.