On the eve of Shenzhen APEC, the United States urges China to fulfill its rare earth commitments

(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer held a video meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Friday (November 6), demanding that China "fully and immediately" implement its commitments in the 2025 Busan trade agreement. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement that Greer emphasized that China must take concrete actions, especially in the procurement of agricultural products, rare earths and other critical minerals.

Busan Agreement: U.S. asks about rare earths, China expresses concern

In 2025, Trump and Xi Jinping reached a trade agreement during the APEC Summit in Busan, South Korea. According to the agreement, the additional tariffs imposed by the United States on Chinese goods are limited to about 20%, China promises to purchase U.S. soybeans, and suspends the implementation of new rare earth export controls. The Trump administration has previously complained that Beijing has not fulfilled its rare earth supply commitments. During Xi Jinping's visit to the United States in September this year, the two sides extended the original one-year agreement to January 10 next year.

According to Xinhua News Agency, during the phone call, the two sides conducted "candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges" on important economic and trade issues of mutual concern, focusing on the implementation of the important consensus reached by the Chinese and US presidents in Beijing and Washington as well as the results of economic and trade consultations. China expressed "serious concern" over the recent economic and trade restrictions imposed by the United States on China, but the press release did not specify what measures they were. Bessent said on X after the meeting that the Trump administration will continue to pursue policies that are beneficial to American workers, farmers and businesses.

Trump and Xi Jinping are expected to meet again on the sidelines of the APEC meeting in Shenzhen on November 18-19.

Trilateral summit: The United States and Russia are lobbying Beijing

Another focus is the meeting between the heads of state of China, the United States and Russia. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning confirmed for the first time on Wednesday (November 4) that China is maintaining communication with relevant parties regarding the meeting between the heads of state of China, the United States and Russia.

Bloomberg believes that this statement appeared two weeks before the Shenzhen meeting, indicating that Beijing is prepared to play host. In mid-October, when Mao Ning was asked about this matter, he said for two consecutive days that he had "no information to provide."

According to the Wall Street Journal, the proposal for a three-party meeting came from Putin, who proposed this format during a phone call with Trump on October 9. According to a report by the British Financial Times, both the United States and Russia are lobbying Beijing, but Beijing has not yet made a decision.

Agenda dispute: Nuclear arms control and Ukraine, each of the three parties has their own agenda

The "South China Morning Post" report quoted a number of scholars as saying that the agenda is the key to whether the three-party meeting can take place. Chinese scholars believe that Beijing is willing to discuss risks in major-power relations, global economic recovery, food and energy security, climate change and other issues, but will refuse to "choose sides" or "unfair proposals" such as "forcibly drawing China into nuclear arms control negotiations between the United States and Russia."

According to the Financial Times, Trump hopes that the three parties will focus on nuclear arms control, but China has always refused to participate in trilateral arms control negotiations on the grounds that its nuclear arsenal is much smaller than that of the United States and Russia.

According to reports, after concluding his visit to China last week, German President Steinmeier accepted an interview with German television (ARD) and said that Xi Jinping mentioned the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, but believed that there was currently no preparation for any summit on Ukraine involving the United States, Russia and China.