China is reviewing and approving applications for exports of controlled items to the U.S., as Beijing and Washington speed up the implementation of their trade framework, the Chinese commerce ministry said.
American officials have informed China that they are lifting a series of restrictive trade measures, a ministry spokesperson said Friday.
"Dialogue and cooperation are the right path" to take, adding that "blackmail and coercion are no solution," the spokesperson said.
Friday's statement was a response to recent media reports saying that some companies have received notices from Washington to resume exports of chip-design software, ethane and aircraft engines to China, according to the ministry's website.
This week's developments came after President Trump said last Thursday that the U.S. had signed a trade deal with China, without further elaboration.
As part of the pact struck after trade talks in London last month, Beijing agreed to ease curbs on rare-earth exports in exchange for the removal of some trade restrictions by the U.S.
Since then, the two sides have taken steps to unwind some nontariff restrictions imposed on the other party.
Three chip-design software developers, California-based Synopsys and Cadence Design, and Germany's Siemens, said Thursday that they had been told by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security that recent curbs on China-bound exports of chip-design products had been lifted.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview this week on Fox News that the U.S. hopes China can speed up rare-earth exports.
"Rare earth magnets are flowing. They are not flowing as they did before April 4, but we are confident that the Chinese will live up to their side of the deal," Bessent said.
However, tensions could re-escalate again despite recent indications of a thaw, as Chinese authorities keep a wary eye on Washington's trade negotiations with other countries.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Thursday reiterated Beijing's displeasure with the U.S. when asked about the U.S.-Vietnam tariff pact signed this week, saying trade "negotiations and agreements should not target or harm the interests of third parties."
Under the Vietnam deal announced Wednesday, goods "transshipped" to the U.S. through the Southeast Asian country would be subject to a punitive 40% tariff. Analysts say the measure appears to be aimed at making it harder for businesses to use Vietnam as a staging post to ship goods to the U.S. from China.
"It seems that Trump is keen to crack down on the rerouting of Chinese exports via third countries, which has diminished the effectiveness of U.S. tariffs," economists at Capital Economics economists said in a note. But doing so will be much easier said than done, they said.
Write to Singapore Editors at singaporeeditors@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 04, 2025 03:53 ET (07:53 GMT)
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