Bessent Floats Longer-Term China Truce After Rare Earths Gambit

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dangled the possibility of extending a pause of import duties on Chinese goods for longer than three months if China halts its plan for strict new export controls on rare-earth elements.

The US and China have agreed to a series of 90-day truces since earlier this year, with the next deadline looming in November.

“Is it possible that we could go to a longer roll in return? Perhaps. But all that’s going to be negotiated in the coming weeks,” Bessent said during a press conference in Washington.

After months of tentative stability in the US-China ...