China's exports of rare-earth magnets to the United States have dropped sharply in the run-up to a planned meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping, according to ZeroHedge. Rare-earth magnets are used in electric motors and many electronics, and the pullback in shipments comes as both governments position themselves ahead of the summit.
The stakes are highest for chipmakers. Nvidia's current $108 billion sales forecast assumes it sells no AI chips to China at all, according to a Motley Fool analysis, meaning the September 24 summit could either validate that cautious baseline or open a market Nvidia has priced at zero. Meanwhile Alibaba unveiled a new AI chip it called China's most powerful, and said it plans an AI model with 5 trillion to 10 trillion parameters, signaling that Chinese firms are building domestic alternatives regardless of how the trade talks go.
What remains unresolved is whether the summit produces any change to export controls or tariffs on chips and rare earths, or whether both sides simply maintain the current standoff. Asia stocks rose on September 21 partly on optimism tied to the meeting, tracking a US tech rally, but that optimism could reverse quickly if the talks produce no concrete agreement.