U.S. officials believe that China will postpone the introduction of expansive export controls on rare‐earth minerals following productive trade negotiations earlier this week in Kuala Lumpur.

The development raises hopes that Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will formalise a trade truce during their upcoming summit.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent affirmed that the United States leveraged the president’s threat of a sweeping one-hundred-percent tariff as a negotiating tool, and said the talks resulted in a framework designed to avert both Beijing’s rare-earth curbs and Washington’s planned tariff escalation.

Key aspects under discussion include China’s commitment to defer export restrictions on elements essential to industries such as defence, electronics and electric vehicles, and the United States’ readiness to refrain from imposing the threatened extensive tariffs.

Negotiators also flagged broader cooperation in agriculture purchases and chemical controls tied to the fentanyl crisis.

While the framework remains subject to final approval by both leaders, the move reflects a potential de-escalation in one of the most volatile fronts of the U.S.–China economic relationship.

Yet analysts caution that China retains the ability to reinstate controls quickly, given its dominant role — with an estimated ninety-percent share of global rare-earth refining and magnet production.

As the summit approaches, attention turns to how the agreement will be implemented and whether the “pause” in controls can evolve into a sustained supply-chain assurance for U.S. industries and a pathway to broader trade cooperation.