Trump and Xi to talk China trade war after US president rages over rare-earths restriction

WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to speak by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping sometime this week after tensions flared up over Beijing’s continued export restrictions on rare-earth elements used for batteries, industrial magnets and high-tech equipment.

Trump, who vented about the status of a preliminary tariff-reducing pact on Friday, is not expected to speak with Xi Monday, a White House official confirmed to The Post.

China controls most global processing for 17 metallic rare earths, which have economically significant applications for items like lasers, wind turbines and electric cars.

The US and China agreed May 12 following discussions in Geneva, Switzerland, to lower sky-high tariffs that had brought trade to a near-halt — with Washington lowering duties on Chinese goods to 30% from up to 145% and Beijing lowering its own levies to 10% from 125%.

Trump proclaimed the agreement as part of a drive to “open” China’s economy.

But China continued to enforce its new export restrictions on rare-earth elements, prompting Trump’s rage — coinciding with last week’s announcement by the State Department that it would begin revoking visas held by tens of thousands of Chinese students in the US.

“The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” the president wrote on social media Friday.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who brokered the initial trade reset last month, said Sunday that Trump intended to resolve the dispute as soon as possible.

“What China is doing is they are holding back products that are essential for the industrial supply chains of India, of Europe. And that is not what a reliable partner does,” Bessent told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“They are withholding some of the products that they agreed to release during our agreement — maybe it’s a glitch in the Chinese system, maybe it’s intentional. We’ll see after the president speaks with the party chairman.”

Tariffs on Chinese goods were about 21% when Trump retook power in January. He quickly slapped on an additional 20% tariff, citing exports of illicit synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, which killed about 300,000 Americans over the past five years, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

The trade war escalated in April when Trump announced his “reciprocal tariffs” on countries with large trade imbalances. When Xi responded by increasing tariffs on American goods, a tit-for-tat spiral sent rates so high that trans-Pacific shipments plummeted.

“President Trump, we expect, is going to have a wonderful conversation about the trade negotiations this week with President Xi, that’s our expectation,” White House economist Kevin Hassett told ABC News’ “This Week” Sunday.

“I’m confident that when President Trump and Party Chairman Xi have a call, that this will be ironed out.”