Scott Bessent says a U.S.-China rare earths deal could be finalized before Thanksgiving

A rare earths deal between the United States and China is moving toward a finish line that could land before Thanksgiving, according to Fox News.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who spoke on the network’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” said the agreement is coming together after the meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping in South Korea, and he made it clear this timeline is what both governments are working toward.

Scott said the deal follows the framework agreement both sides announced last month. That agreement stopped Washington from hitting Chinese imports with 100% tariffs, and in return, Beijing paused its plan to bring in a new export licensing system that would have restricted access to rare earth minerals and magnets.

These minerals are essential to U.S. manufacturing, defense systems, and crypto mining hardware, so the pressure around this piece of trade has been intense.

Scott said, “I am confident that post our meeting in Korea between the two leaders, President Trump, President Xi, that China will honor their agreements,” and he delivered that line with the expectation that the rare earths issue is close to being wrapped up.

Scott also pushed back on a Wall Street Journal report that said Chinese officials planned to restrict rare earth supplies to American companies with military ties. He said that the claim was wrong and said he expects Beijing to follow the commitments made in Korea.

With that, he tried to shut down speculation that China would use rare earths as leverage in the defense space.

USDA numbers show weak Chinese demand for U.S. soybeans

While Scott tried to show confidence about rare earths, a different part of the Trump‑Xi meeting is already falling apart.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released new data showing only two Chinese purchases of American soybeans since the summit in Korea.

Those two shipments totaled 332,000 metric tons, which is nowhere close to the 12 million metric tons that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said China agreed to buy by January. It also falls far short of the 25 million metric tons Brooke said China would buy in each of the next three years.

Farmers had hopes that China, their biggest customer, would return to buying U.S. soybeans after the summit. But Tanner Ehmke, the lead economist for grains and oilseed at CoBank, said China has no reason to rush back to the U.S. market.

Tanner explained that China already has large supplies from Brazil and other South American countries, and because U.S. soybeans still face a 24% tariff, even after a 10‑point cut, American beans remain more expensive.

Tanner said, “We are still not even close to what has been advertised from the U.S. in terms of what the agreement would have been,” and made it clear that Beijing has not confirmed any detailed purchase promises.

Beijing has only said there is “consensus” on expanding trade in farm goods. Tanner said even if China did agree to buy soybeans, the agreement might only apply if prices drop to a level Beijing considers attractive.

That leaves the farm side of the Trump‑Xi deal floating in uncertainty.

Soybean prices drop as Trump says China will buy more

Trump told reporters on Sunday that his team spoke with Chinese officials and were told that China will be buying more soybeans, though he did not say how much.

Trump said, “They’re in the process of doing not only a little bit but they’ll be doing a lot of soybean purchases,” but without numbers or timing, markets were not convinced.

On Friday, soybean prices dropped 23 cents to $11.24 per bushel after the USDA report came out.

Tanner said the price drop was the market reacting to “the lack of Chinese demand that was confirmed in USDA data today.”

Prices were still higher than the $10.60 per bushel seen before the Korea meeting, but traders said that without major new purchases, the price could drop again.

Before the trade agreement, Trump promised farmers an aid package to help them handle the losses from the China trade war.

That aid was put on hold during the shutdown, and now it’s unclear if the White House will offer a new package like the one Trump gave during his first term.

Farmers are waiting, and the pressure is building, as the soybean side of the deal now looks far weaker than the rare earths side.

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