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'I'm sure that I'll speak to President Xi,' Trump says

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US official says China slowing critical minerals exports

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US trade chief says China not in compliance with Geneva

deal

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Trump announces increase in steel tariffs at Pennsylvania

rally

(Adds increase in steel tariffs, paragraphs 1 and 4)

By David Lawder, Michael Martina and Katharine Jackson

WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald

Trump on Friday accused China of violating a bilateral deal to

roll back tariffs and announced a doubling of worldwide steel

tariffs to 50%, once again rattling international trade.

Trump said China had violated an agreement with the U.S. to

mutually roll back tariffs and trade restrictions for critical

minerals and issued a new veiled threat to get tougher with

Beijing.

"China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY

VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE

GUY!," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Later, at a rally in Pennsylvania promoting an impending

"partnership" between Japan's Nippon Steel ( NISTF ) and U.S.

Steel, he announced the U.S. would double steel tariffs

from 25% to 50%, effective next week, which he said "will even

further secure the steel industry in the United States."

While China is the world's largest steel producer and

exporter, very little is sent to the United States, as a 25%

tariff imposed in 2018 shut most Chinese steel out of the

market.

On overall trade with China, Trump said he made a "fast

deal" in mid-May with Chinese officials for both countries to

back away from triple-digit tariffs for 90 days. He said he did

this to save China from a "devastating" situation, factory

closings and civil unrest caused by his tariffs of up to 145% on

Chinese imports.

Trump did not specify how China had violated the agreement

made in Geneva, Switzerland, or what action he would take

against Beijing.

Asked later on Friday in the Oval Office about the China

deal, Trump said: "I'm sure that I'll speak to President Xi, and

hopefully we'll work that out."

RARE EARTHS LICENSES

But a U.S. official told Reuters that it appeared China was

moving slowly on promises to issue export licenses for rare

earths minerals. The deal called for China to lift trade

countermeasures that restrict its exports of the critical metals

needed for U.S. semiconductor, electronics and defense

production.

"The Chinese are slow-rolling their compliance, which is

completely unacceptable and it has to be addressed," U.S. Trade

Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC, without specifying how

that would happen.

Indeed, Reuters reported on Friday that global auto

executives are sounding the alarm on an impending shortage of

rare-earths magnets from China - used in everything from

windshield-wiper motors to anti-lock braking sensors - that

could force the closure of car factories within weeks.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China's embassy in

Washington, said China has maintained communications on trade

matters with U.S. counterparts since the Geneva talks, but

raised concerns about U.S. export controls.

"China once again urges the U.S. to immediately correct its

erroneous actions, cease discriminatory restrictions against

China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at the high-level

talks in Geneva," Liu said in a statement.

Reuters reported earlier this week that the U.S. has ordered

a broad swath of companies to stop shipping goods to China

without a license and revoked some existing export licenses,

according to three people familiar with the matter.

Products affected include design software and chemicals for

semiconductors, butane and ethane, machine tools and aviation

equipment, these sources said.

Spokespersons for the White House, the U.S. Treasury and the

U.S. Trade Representative's Office did not respond to requests

for comment.

CHINA TALKS 'STALLED'

On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News

Channel that U.S. trade talks with China were "a bit stalled"

and that getting a deal over the finish line will likely need

the direct involvement of Trump and Xi.

The U.S.-China agreement two weeks ago to dial back

triple-digit tariffs for 90 days prompted a massive relief rally

in global stocks, and along with other pauses on Trump's import

taxes, lowered the effective U.S. tariff rate to the mid-teens

from around 25% in early April. It was less than 3% when Trump

took office in January.

The temporary truce between Washington and Beijing, however,

had done nothing to address the underlying reasons for Trump's

tariffs on Chinese goods, mainly longstanding U.S. complaints

about China's state-dominated, export-driven economic model,

leaving those issues for future talks.

Major U.S. stock indexes ended little changed on Friday

after Trump's complaint about China's compliance. Trump's social

media post came two days after a reporter infuriated him by

asking him about Wall Street's new term for bets that he will

back off extreme tariff actions - the "TACO" trade, an acronym

coined by a Financial Times columnist for "Trump Always Chickens

Out."

"I chicken out? Oh, I've never heard that. You mean because

I reduced China from 145% that I set, down to 100 and then to

another number?" Trump said, later adding: "It's called

negotiation."

Trump's tariff strategy also suffered a major setback on

Wednesday when the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that

his broad global tariffs, including those on China, were invalid

because he exceeded his authority under an emergency powers law

used to back them. An appeals court has issued a temporary stay

for the decision, allowing them to remain in place for now.