President Trump told us that the U.S. would get "a total of 55% tariffs" with China's tariffs set at 10%, adding that "Full magnets and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to”. A Chinese spokesman was more reserved. Lutnick referred to the agreement as a "handshake for a framework" which didn’t seem entirely consistent with Trump’s assessment. Usually, in these matters the best way of telling what happened is to look at the US-listed Rare Earth miners – MP Materials fell 8% yesterday, but was up 14% today, which might suggests that the market the market remains skeptical about China resuming rare earth supplies.
Read more →