Trump Signs Critical Minerals Deals with Southeast Asian Partners Amid China’s Export Restrictions
U.S. President Donald Trump signed a flurry of deals on trade and critical minerals with three Southeast Asian partners on Sunday, as Washington looked to address trade imbalances and diversify supply chains amid tighter export curbs on rare earths by China.
Trump, who is in Kuala Lumpur to attend a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, signed reciprocal trade agreements with his Thai, Malaysian and Cambodian counterparts that will see the countries work to address tariff and non-tariff barriers.
Besides the 19% US tariff rate on most exports from all three countries, Trump inked deals with Thailand and Malaysia seeking cooperation to diversify critical minerals supply chains, amid competing efforts from Beijing in the rapidly growing sector.
In this regard, Malaysia agreed to refrain from banning or imposing quotas on exports to the United States of critical minerals or rare earth elements, the countries said in a statement.
The statement however did not specify whether Malaysia’s pledge applied to raw or processed rare earths.
Malaysia, which has an estimated 16.1 million tonnes of rare earth deposits, has banned companies from exporting raw rare earths to prevent the loss of resources as it looks to develop its downstream sector.
Separately, the Reuters news agency reported last month that China was in talks with Kuala Lumpur on rare earths processing, with Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional expected to partner with a Chinese firm to build a refinery in Malaysia.
This comes as China, the world’s top miner and processor of rare earths, has imposed export controls on its refining technology, sending global manufacturers scrambling to secure alternative supplies for critical minerals used widely in semiconductor chips, electric vehicles and military equipment.
