The United States and China finalized a commercial understanding achieved last month in GenevaSaid US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick.
“That agreement was signed and sealed two days ago,” Lutnick said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
The agreement encodes the terms established in the conversations between Beijing and Washington in Geneva earlier this month, said Lutnick. The United States and China celebrated a second round of negotiations in London this month after both parties accused each other of violating the previous agreement, which allowed both countries to reduce tariffs from very high levels.
The negotiators of the United States and China announced that after two days of conversations they reached an understandingpending the approval of President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
A White House official said that the United States and China agreed to implement the Geneva agreement. The China Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a comment request.
Lutnick was asked to clarify Trump’s comments, who said early Thursday during an event at the White House that “we signed with China yesterday” without explaining what he meant.
“We are going to deliver rare earths” and once they do it, “We will eliminate our countermeasures,” said Bloomberg News Secretary of Commerce in an interview.
These US measures include restrictions on the export of materials, such as ethane, used for the production of plastics in ChinaSoftware for chips and reaction engines. However, these restrictions will not rise until the flow of magnets begins from China, said Lutnick.
The agreement signed two days ago includes a language that forces China to deliver rare earth to the United States, According to the secretary.
