Critical minerals at core of Trump-Xi talks as US ups its game in race to rival Beijing

Critical minerals are at the heart of the trade talks between US president Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Washington that started on Thursday (24 September), with EU officials watching on closely. On Wednesday night, Trump’s treasury secretary Scott Bessent said that the two sides had agreed to extend their trade truce until early January – a two-month extension. That covers a one year moratorium on restrictions on rare exports from China which, crucially, also applies to the EU. But despite the latest temporary truce, Washington has been aggressively pushing its own agenda on increasing access to critical minerals. On Wednesday, the US signed a critical minerals agreement with Nigeria on the margins of the UN General Assembly, with a series of deals involving US mining firms announced at a launch event in New York attended by Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu. Chief among them is an agreement with Orion Critical Mineral Consortium, whose main financial backer is the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), a government financing arm. Access to and refining of critical minerals and rare-earth supplies, alongside chips, which have become a major point of leverage in the US-China relationship. The US wants China to ease restrictions on rare-earth exports, while Beijing has sought to maintain its lead in the production of materials used in technology and defence. Trump imposed curbs on exports of US-made chips to China shortly after taking office last January.