On the 9th local time, the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism was held in London. Global attention was focused at this moment. A few hours before the talks, the White House directly asked for rare earths. China released a set of data, and the answer was clear at a glance.
Sometimes, the heads of China and the US dollar answered the phone, breaking the deadlock caused by the Sino-US trade war since Trump took office and also starting a new round of negotiations between China and the United States. Judging from the press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this London meeting is the first meeting after the establishment of a trade consultation mechanism in Geneva, marking that the Sino-US game has become a long-range air-to-air battle and has become a close-knit fight.
This negotiation is seen as the last window to avoid "quantum entangled decoupling". What are the whole world talking about when China and the United States are waiting to see what? How was the talk? If the two sides further reach a longer-term and extensive agreement, the stability of the global supply chain will be improved, especially in the new energy and semiconductor fields; if the negotiations fail, it may trigger a new round of tariff war and technological blockade, impacting 1.5 million Chinese jobs and US$30 billion in consumer spending, which will in turn impact the stability and growth potential of global trade.
The most critical factor in whether the negotiations can be successful lies in the game between the United States' technical control and China's countermeasures. The Trump administration continues to use its high-tech advantages to continuously pressure China to make concessions in the negotiations. China decisively plays the rare earth card, and with its absolute dominant advantage in related industrial chains and supply chains, it has hurt American companies and scared the US government.
Before this London meeting, US government officials, including US President Trump and Treasury Secretary Becent, frequently hyped up news that senior Chinese and US officials were about to call, and individually brought out rare earth controls, hinting that they would talk to China. During the call between the Chinese and US dollar leaders, Trump also mentioned rare earths separately, hoping that China can promote its efforts. During the London talks for a few hours, Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House International Economic Commission, directly asked for rare earths, saying that the United States would ask China to expand its exports during its talks to China in London. Obviously, the United States is more anxious now.
China grasped the US's psychology and released a set of data responses. Data released by the General Administration of Customs showed that China's rare earth exports in May were 5,864.6 tons, an increase of 23% from the previous month.
After Trump announced in April that he would impose export restrictions on seven categories of medium and heavy rare earth products within 48 hours. In that month, China's exports of rare earths and their products to the United States fell by 37% month-on-month, with a total volume of only about 1,700 tons. In order to prevent other countries from reselling Chinese rare earths to the United States, China has further taken corresponding export review measures. After review, China resumed rare earth exports to South Korea, the EU and other places in May, and the growth in the data of the General Administration of Customs came from this.
It can be seen that May's growth has almost nothing to do with exports to the United States, and the total volume after the growth is not much. But the intention of China to release this set of data is exactly this, which is to tell the US before the negotiations that whether rare earths are exported, the amount of exports, and the speed of export review are all within China's grasp. It is not subject to the US's will. No matter how anxious the US is, it can only depend on China's intentions.
This intention has also been confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce. On the 9th, a Reuters reporter asked at a regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is China willing to open a "green channel" for the approval of rare earth exports to the United States? Spokesperson Lin Jian pointed out that the Ministry of Commerce has responded, and the Ministry of Commerce said this: Rare earth-related items have dual-use attributes for military and civilians, and the implementation of export control on them is in line with international practices. China will "continue to strengthen the approval of compliance applications" and "will further strengthen the communication and dialogue with relevant countries on this matter" to promote convenient trade in compliance.
The implication is that China will not only not relax its controls, but will instead adopt more scientific and rigorous approval measures. If any countries want to strive for preferential treatment, they must negotiate with China. At present, all parties are waiting for the result of this negotiation. When "America is great again" collides with the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation", which side can gain the upper hand? Will the US loosen the ban on some chips in exchange for rare earths? Let's wait and see!
