President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Friday. (Evan Vucci/AP)

By Christian Shepherd

China on Monday said Trump administration accusations that it had broken the terms of a trade war truce by holding back key materials were “groundless,” saying that it was in fact the United States that had “seriously damaged” the agreement with its restrictions on Chinese microchips and students.

After President Donald Trump on Friday twice accused China of having violated an agreement reached last month, administration officials said that Beijing was taking its time to approve export licenses for rare earths needed to make products including consumer electronics and jet engines.

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