Chinese and American trade negotiators said on Sunday that they had agreed to a framework of a deal ahead of an expected meeting of the countries’ top leaders this week.
“We are moving forward to the final details of the type of agreement that the leaders can review and decide if they want to conclude together,” Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, said to reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital.
China’s top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, described the talks between the United States and China as “candid and in-depth discussions” on the trade deal, adding that the two sides had reached a “preliminary consensus.”
The negotiators were in Kuala Lumpur for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, where President Trump began a nearly weeklong trip to Asia. He is expected to meet on Thursday with Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, at a separate economic meeting in South Korea.
The variety of issues discussed in Kuala Lumpur included bilateral trade, export controls, reciprocal tariff extensions, fentanyl-related tariffs and cooperation on combating fentanyl trafficking, according to the Chinese side.
Mr. Greer was less specific. He said that the two sides had also discussed another extension in their series of truces on tariffs.
Mr. Greer said that the negotiations had included rare earth metals, which are mostly produced in China and which are now subject to stringent export controls imposed this year by Beijing. “We talked about extending the truce, we talked about rare earths, of course, we talked about all kinds of topics,” he said.
The discussions also included steep port fees that the United States recently imposed on ships that were built in China or are owned by Chinese companies. China has retaliated by putting tariffs on American-built ships — few are left on international routes — and on ships partly or entirely owned by American companies or investors.
Both sides were careful to suggest that they did not have a final deal.
“China and the United States constructively explored a plan for appropriately dealing with some of the concerns of both sides,” Mr. Li said, according to CCTV, China’s main broadcaster. He added, “The next step is for each side to fulfill their respective domestic approval procedures.”
Mr. Li’s reference to “internal approval procedures” used a Chinese term that could be construed as signaling that administrative steps may be planned. China’s Ministry of Commerce issued extensive export regulations on Oct. 9 that immediately halted any further transfer out of China of the technology needed to process rare earth metals.
Rare earth metals are essential to a wide range of advanced manufacturing, including the production of cars, drones, factory robots and offshore wind turbines, as well as for missiles, fighter jets and other military equipment. China produces 90 percent of the world’s refined rare earths and rare earth magnets, and up to 100 percent of some kinds of rare earths that are particularly needed for the most cutting-edge technologies and military applications.
China’s Ministry of Commerce ordered other export controls on Oct. 9 that are scheduled to take effect on Nov. 8 and Dec. 1. Those rules would limit any shipments across any country’s borders of products containing Chinese rare earth magnets. The rules would also limit exports of equipment to make electric car batteries, another sector in which China is trying to preserve its global technological leadership.
The new regulations would also limit exports of considerable equipment, like diamond saws, that are needed in the manufacturing of semiconductors and solar panels. Mr. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on goods from China if Beijing goes ahead with the export controls.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed Mr. Greer and Mr. Li in cautiously portraying progress achieved in the Kuala Lumpur talks. “We have a very successful framework for the leaders to discuss,” he told reporters after the negotiations on Sunday.
Chris Buckley contributed reporting from Sydney, Australia.
Keith Bradsher is the Beijing bureau chief for The Times. He previously served as bureau chief in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Detroit and as a Washington correspondent. He lived and reported in mainland China through the pandemic.
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