China signaled it would approve the export of rare earth minerals in a statement Friday hours after White House officials said that the US and China had signed a trade agreement to work out tensions linked to US access to the key material.

Beijing has told rare-earth companies to hand over lists of employees with technical expertise, aiming to ensure they don’t divulge trade secrets to foreigners.

The United States has reached an agreement with China on how to expedite rare earth shipments to the U.S., a White House official said on Thursday, amid efforts to end a trade war between the world's biggest economies.