US may raise tariffs if China fails to honor rare earths deal: Bessent

The United States is prepared to reimpose higher tariffs on China if Beijing fails to uphold its commitment to ease restrictions on rare earth exports, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday.

Speaking to Fox News Sunday, Bessent warned that Washington would act if China continued to block exports of the critical minerals, which are vital for high-tech manufacturing and defense industries.

“The Chinese have cornered the market on rare earths, and unfortunately, at times they’ve proven to be unreliable partners,” he said.

Beijing announced Thursday that it would suspend for one year the export restrictions it introduced in October on rare earth materials and technologies. The move followed recent talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.

However, Bessent expressed skepticism, noting that “some of the export restrictions remain in place” and that China has not always followed through on previous trade pledges.

He said the Trump administration remained willing to use “maximum leverage” to ensure compliance. “If they backtrack, we could threaten the tariffs again,” Bessent warned.

“We don’t want to decouple from China, but we’re going to have to de-risk,” he added, signaling a push to reduce US dependence on Chinese supply chains.

Bessent also criticized past US administrations for allowing China to dominate the rare earth market. “They were asleep at the switch while China built this monopoly,” he said, adding that the current administration plans to “move at warp speed” over the next two years to secure alternative sources and reduce vulnerabilities.

Under the new agreement, Washington will lower tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States by 10 percent, while Beijing is expected to take stronger action to curb the flow of fentanyl into the US.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has identified China as the largest source of fentanyl and related chemicals fueling the opioid crisis, which has claimed tens of thousands of American lives.