The president of the United States, Donald Trump, threatened China on Monday, August 25 to impose around 200% of customs duties in Chinese products entering the United States if Beijing did not accelerate their exports of rare earth magnets.
China is the main world producer of rare earths, which in particular allow to manufacture essential magnets for the automotive industry, electronics or even armaments.
Export restrictions
But the state of Chinese parties imposed a license in early April for the export of these strategic materials, a decision perceived as a measure of retaliation against US customs’ tasks.
Beijing and Washington threw themselves into a real commercial war, each responded to the customs of customs tasks on the other, to reach 125% and 145% on both sides.
Since then, negotiations between the first two world powers have allowed us to reduce tensions and the Chinese government has pledged to accelerate the issuance of licenses for a certain number of US companies.
If he acknowledged that Beijing had “active in his round”, however, he recalled that “we have them quite incredible.
But I don’t want to play these cards because if he did to destroy China, “he warned, in the presence of his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae-Myung, during an exchange with the press in the Oval office.
A fragile agreement
American and Chinese officials have gathered three times in recent months, to flatten a series of issues related to their commercial relations.
At the end of these meetings, the two countries have agreed to maintain 30% and 10% of the customs tasks that are imposed, for a period of 90 days, which has already extended twice until next November.
Beijing has notably obtained a relaxation of exports of high precision semiconductors from the United States, whose sale to Chinese companies has gradually hardened, particularly under the predecessor of Donald Trump, Joe Biden.
Source: BFM TV
