Nigeria, June 27 -- America and China have also made a breakthrough in reviving their troubled trade relationship with an agreement on a new pact that can revive trade in high-tech products and rare earth metals between the world's two largest economies.

Revived by a public comment from China's Commerce Ministry, the deal offers a path to reduce tension in a trade war that had been smoldering for decades.

Central to the accord is the mutual pledge to open export gates to rare earths and roll back unprecedentedly tight regulations affecting technology-based trade. China, which monopolistically dominates the world's rare earth industry, has pledged to process and clear export applications for the product, subject to its export control mea...