The United States is pressing China to immediately deliver on the commitments President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping made when they met in Busan, South Korea, in October 2025. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer raised the issue directly with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, stressing that further progress depends on concrete results.

Rare earths have emerged as the central sticking point. US officials told the Financial Times that China has fulfilled only about two-thirds of its commitments and has failed to increase supply to the extent Washington expected. Beijing disputes the US assessment. One material in focus is yttrium, which is used in jet engines and missiles. According to the FT, Chinese export restrictions are also affecting Japanese suppliers that serve US manufacturers.

The stakes extend well beyond the two governments. China dominates global rare earth production and refining, and the minerals covered by the Busan deal sit upstream of core industries: gallium and germanium are semiconductor inputs, graphite feeds battery and steel production, and antimony goes into munitions and flame retardants. That upstream position is why licensing decisions in Beijing ripple into sourcing problems for manufacturers abroad, as Japanese suppliers are already experiencing.

What the Two Sides Agreed in Busan

Rare earths and critical minerals. China agreed to suspend the broader export controls it announced in October 2025 and to issue general export licenses for rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite for US end users and their suppliers worldwide.

Agriculture. China committed to buying at least 12 million metric tons of US soybeans in the final two months of 2025 and at least 25 million metric tons annually from 2026 through 2028. It also agreed to resume purchases of US sorghum and lumber and to suspend a range of retaliatory tariffs. The FT reports that US officials say China is meeting its soybean pledge but falling short on some other agricultural purchases. The soybean pledge carries particular weight for US growers, with China long the largest export customer for the American crop.

Tariffs and other measures. Under the original deal, the US agreed to keep higher reciprocal tariffs on hold, cut fentanyl-related tariffs by 10 percentage points and pause certain export-control and shipping measures. China, in turn, agreed to tighten controls on chemicals used to make fentanyl and to ease some measures affecting US semiconductor companies.

What to Watch Next

The truce has been extended through January 10, 2027, according to the Financial Times. The near-term measure of progress is whether export approvals translate into more material actually reaching US manufacturers and their suppliers. If shipments pick up, both sides would have something concrete to point to heading into the next round of talks. If supply stays tight, rare earths could become a bigger obstacle to another extension as the January deadline approaches.