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USTR Greer and Treasury's Bessent to travel to Malaysia for discussions with Chinese counterparts

U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer announced that he and Treasury secretary Scott Bessent would be heading to Malaysia on Tuesday to meet with Chinese officials to discuss what Greer called Beijing's "extremely aggressive" and "disproportionate measures" to curb the exports of rare-earth minerals. Greer said on CNBC's SquawkBox program that President Donald Trump could still meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, but the decision would be mutual if it took place at the sidelines an economic conference in South Korea.

The U.S. negotiator stated that China's actions violated an agreement their officials made months ago, to continue supplying rare Earths for high-tech. However, there is still a "good land zone" where the U.S. can trade with China in a balanced manner.

After months of relative calm, trade tensions have flared up between the U.S., and China. Trump imposed 100% additional duties on China, which are set to go into effect on November 1, after China announced its export controls on almost all rare earths.

Greer and Bessent insist that the United States must rebalance its trade with China following decades of limited access to Chinese market.

Greer said, "Greer also added."

There was still time to calm tensions.

Greer said that there is "a notional good landing zone" for the United States to trade with China, where they can do so in a more balanced way, where we are trading non-sensitive products, and where both countries have a positive relationship.

"The U.S. was always quite open to Chinese companies, but it is really driven by Chinese policies which exclude U.S. firms and cause overcapacity in China. "None of this works for the United States", he said. We can't continue to live this way, so we must find an alternative.

Greer said Trump, along with other U.S. officials, would also discuss agriculture issues, such as China's decision to stop buying U.S. sorghum and soybeans, which, he claimed, was meant to intentionally hurt U.S. Farmers.

"Obviously, the president will raise. "We all... raise this issue with them," said he, noting China's unfulfilled obligations under a deal signed during Trump’s first term to purchase agricultural and manufactured products. Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Susan Heavey, Editing by Andrew Heavens & Sharon Singleton

(source: Reuters)