HK business sector remains sceptical of major changes after Xi-Trump talks
發佈日期: 2025-06-06 20:06
TVB News
Some analysts believe the dialogue between President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump highlighted the key role that rare earths play in negotiations between the two nations.
This as some in the local business sector remain sceptical of any major breakthroughs from the phone call, adding that Washington is unlikely to implement any major changes to its trade policies.
Danny Lau, who has been involved with the aluminium business for over three decades, runs a factory in Dongguan that once saw one-third of its products exported to the U.S.
But his usual business took a drastic turn when the Trump administration's trade policies resulted in his U.S.-bound metal exports being subject to 100 percent tariffs.
He has yet to receive any orders from American clients since then.
Despite the latest dialogue between Xi and Trump, Lau remains pessimistic about the two countries' business relationship in the near future.
The talks right now are just about talking, there's no announcement regarding the tariffs.
We don't have much confidence in the final results as much as we expect they will come out to be positive.
Earlier, the White House mentioned on numerous occasions its concerns about Chinese restrictions on rare earth exports.
This as Trump noted that such concerns should be eased after his call with the Chinese leader.
Some political scientists believe the recent discussions indicated that the issue of rare earths has become Beijing's trump card against America.
Rare earth materials are extremely useful for automobile development including the quality.
So, the U.S. automobile industry has already been affected.
China does not fully trust the United States in the case of rare earth management.
That is to say, if China fully opens up rare earth exports, then this will be the zero-sum game tilted in favour of the U.S.
So, we can expect that China will relax the export of rare earths a little bit more, but not to the extent that will fully satisfy the United States.
Professor Sonny Lo said President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump will likely meet at the APEC summit in South Korea later this year for further dialogue.
He added that the latter will likely lay out his plans for his upcoming trip to China in the near future.
