Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, on Bloomberg Television on June 30, didn't predict how many deals would be announced with the 18 largest trading partners of the U.S. before July 9. However, he said that countries "are coming in with offers" that long-time staff negotiators "can't believe," because they're so good.
U.S. and Chinese officials said the two countries are still on pace for Beijing to ease its restrictions over rare earths and for Washington to lift its countermeasures, including export controls.
The U.S. has the power to force some manufacturing out of Canada and Mexico and have it locate in the U.S., so that those cars or other products avoid tariffs, a think-tank analyst said at a Washington International Trade Association event.
The U.S. and China reached an agreement for Beijing to rein in export curbs on critical minerals, and for the U.S. to "provide to China what was agreed to," President Donald Trump said June 11, offering few details about the substance of the deal.
Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic discussed export controls and trade remedies during a meeting in Paris last week, according to an unofficial translation of a Chinese readout of the talks. China said the two sides continued to discuss the EU's countervailing duties on electric vehicle imports from China (see 2408200020) and made some progress toward an agreement on price commitments.
President Donald Trump got the phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping he'd been seeking, and Trump wrote on social media that "there should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products."
Cecilia Malmstrom, a former top European Commission trade official, said the EU is "painfully aware that the transatlantic relationship as we used to know it has been severely damaged."
Vice President JD Vance, meeting with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said that "of course, we have some disagreements on things like trade," but that he hopes their conversation "will be the beginning of some long-term trade negotiations and some long-term trade advantages between both Europe and the United States."
President Donald Trump touted his plan to get foreign health purchasers to pay more for pharmaceuticals, and U.S. consumers to pay less, as he signed an executive order seeking to equalize those prices.
The U.S. and China agreed to temporarily drop certain tariffs, during negotiations in Switzerland May 10-11, and plan to continue talks through a new trade dialogue mechanism, both countries said.