The U.S. and China have signed an agreement on trade, President Donald Trump said, adding he expects to soon have a deal with India.
“We just signed with China the other day,” Trump said late Thursday.
Lutnick said the deal was “signed and sealed” two days earlier.
“The president likes to close these deals himself. He’s the dealmaker. We’re going to have deal after deal,” Lutnick said.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry said Thursday that Beijing was accelerating review of export license applications for rare earths and had approved “a certain number of compliant applications.”
Export controls of the minerals apparently eclipsed tariffs in the latest round of trade negotiations between Beijing and Washington after China imposed permitting requirements on seven rare earth elements in April, threatening to disrupt production of cars, robots, wind turbines and other high-tech products in the U.S. and around the world.
The rapidly shifting policies are taking a toll on both of the world’s two largest economies.
In China, factory profits sank more than 9% from a year earlier in May, with automakers suffering a large share of that drop. They fell more than 1% year-on-year in January-May.
Trump and other U.S. officials have indicated they expect to reach trade deals with many other countries, including India.
“We’re going to have deal after deal after deal,” Lutnick said.
