U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said China is only partly meeting its commitments on rare earths, the minerals used in the permanent magnets of most electric vehicle motors, in an interview with CNBC on Thursday, and said he would raise the issue with Chinese officials in Shenzhen next week.
“When it comes to rare earths, we’re getting some of what we need. We always wanted to have it at a quicker pace and in a higher volume,” Greer told Squawk Box host Joe Kernen.
“We’d like it to be at the same levels that it was a few years ago, before they started cracking down on rare earths at the tail end of the Biden administration, and then again during our administration,” he said.
He described China’s record as “partial compliance.” China committed to buy 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans this year and has made purchases or booked orders to that effect, he said, but has made only some progress on other farm purchases.
“So it’s not perfect compliance, and this is something that we’ll talk about in Shenzhen next week with the Chinese side,” Greer said.
Why Rare Earths Matter for EVs
Rare earths such as neodymium and dysprosium go into the magnets that drive most EV motors. China produced 60% of the world’s mined magnet rare earths and 91% of refined output in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency.
China’s export controls on the minerals disrupted EV supply chains in 2025. The White House said on September 25 that the two countries were still working on U.S. concerns over rare-earth supply, with the goal of returning shipments to “appropriate levels.”
Greer’s call for a return to the levels seen before the crackdowns is the clearest benchmark the administration has set publicly for what it expects.
A Truce With a Deadline
The rare-earth commitments date from the trade truce Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in Busan, South Korea, in late October 2025. That one-year deal paused tit-for-tat tariffs and deferred China’s rare-earth curbs.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said on November 9 that it would extend its suspension of export controls on some critical minerals for two months, to January 10. Its Finance Ministry kept a 24% tariff on U.S. goods suspended for the same period, while leaving a 10% levy in place.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged China to implement its Busan commitments “fully and immediately.” Trump and Xi are expected to meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen next week, their third meeting this year.
Greer told CNBC in September that the two countries were in a “managed trade situation” and that Washington was monitoring China’s compliance on rare earths.
Chinese EVs Still Shut Out
Nothing in Thursday’s remarks pointed to a change in U.S. policy on Chinese cars. Greer said in September that the U.S. maintains its 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, which he said had pushed Chinese carmakers to target Europe and other markets.
A week earlier, he had said restrictions on foreign technology would likely keep Chinese carmakers out of the U.S. for the foreseeable future.
The U.S. auto industry wrote to Trump in September, ahead of Xi’s visit to Washington, urging policies that keep “the door firmly shut to Chinese automakers seeking to sell, import or manufacture vehicles inside the U.S.”
Mexico
Trump wrote on social media on Thursday that “the Tariffs on Mexico will be IMMEDIATELY DOUBLED” unless Mexico stops a group of about 1,500 migrants heading north from the southern city of Tapachula, Reuters reported. His post did not say which tariffs would be doubled.
Asked about the threat, Greer framed his answer around the border rather than trade in goods. “Now with the results of the midterms, I think people in other countries think it’s going to be open season again at the border. It won’t be,” he said.
“The president is prepared to take whatever measures he needs to, economic or otherwise, to maintain the gains that he made in shutting down that border. And so I’ll work with him if he needs to take economic measures.”
Mexico currently faces a 10% U.S. duty on goods that do not enter duty-free under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), imposed under Section 301 from July 24. Vehicles and auto parts fall under separate Section 232 national-security tariffs, which that duty does not cover.
Any broad tariff increase would reach a country central to North American vehicle production, and U.S. EV makers depend on suppliers there. Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe still visits suppliers in Mexico as the supply chain sets the pace of R2 production.
Honda‘s U.S. arm has urged Washington to use the coming USMCA review to coordinate restrictions on Chinese vehicles and investment across the three countries.
Canada and Its China EV Quota
Greer said U.S. officials had spoken to Canada in the past few days but declined to give a timeline for a trade deal, according to market news services’ summaries of the full segment. That exchange is not in the clip CNBC posted.
He criticized Canada’s January agreement with China, which allows up to 49,000 Chinese-built EVs a year into the country at a 6.1% tariff. “I think it’s problematic for Canada,” Greer told CNBC at the time. “I think in the long run, they’re not gonna like having made that deal.”
Canada’s government reported 15,763 of the 49,000 permits for the first quota year used as of September 25.
