BANGKOK — Washington and Beijing have signed a trade agreement that will make it easier for American firms to obtain magnets and rare earth minerals from China that are critical to manufacturing and microchip production, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday.

The agreement comes after China retaliated against steep import tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese goods and moved to slow export of rare earth minerals and magnets much needed by U.S. industrial interests.

Bessent said on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping “had a phone call” previously “and then our teams met in London, ironed this out, and I am confident now that ... the magnets will flow.”

“Part of the agreement was tariffs coming down and rare earth magnets starting to flow back to the U.S.,” Bessent said.

President Donald Trump two weeks earlier announced an agreement with China that he said would ease exportation of magnets and rare earth minerals.

That pact cleared the way for the trade talks to continue. The U.S. has previously suspended some sales to China of critical U.S. technologies like components used for jet engines and semiconductors, But it has also agreed to stop trying to revoke visas of Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses.

China’s Commerce Ministry said Friday that the two sides had “further confirmed the details of the framework,” though its statement did not explicitly mention U.S. access to rare earths that have been at the center of the negotiations.

Initial talks in Geneva in early May led both sides to postpone massive tariff hikes that were threatening to freeze much trade between the two countries. Later talks in London set a framework for negotiations and the deal mentioned by Trump appeared to formalize that agreement — setting the stage for Bessent’s comments Friday.

Some higher tariffs, such as those Washington imposed over fentanyl and duties on aluminum and steel, remain in place.