HONG KONG — Senior U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in London on Monday in an effort to de-escalate the bitter trade dispute between the world’s two biggest economies that has roiled the global economy, with China’s restrictions on critical minerals high on the agenda.
The U.K. is providing a venue for the discussions but will not be involved in them directly and the exact time and location of the meeting remains unknown.
“We are a nation that champions free trade and have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody’s interests, so we welcome these talks,” a U.K. government spokesperson said.
The effects of the U.S.-China trade rift are already apparent, with China on Monday reporting a 34.5% decrease in exports to the U.S. in May — the biggest drop since February 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, CNBC reported.
Investors were relieved last month when U.S. and Chinese representatives meeting in Geneva said they had reached a preliminary agreement to suspend most of the tit-for-tat tariffs they had imposed on each other’s goods, which had reached as high as 145%. But in recent weeks both countries have accused each other of violating the agreement.
The new round of talks comes four days after President Donald Trump and Chinese Xi Jinping held a lengthy phone call that Trump said focused mostly on trade. The call, which Trump said lasted about 90 minutes, was the first between the two leaders since Trump returned to office, though they spoke a few days before his Jan. 20 inauguration.
Trump, who had complained a day earlier that Xi was “extremely hard to make a deal with,” said in a Truth Social post that the call “resulted in a very positive conclusion” for both countries. He told reporters Friday that Xi had agreed to resume the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets to the U.S. after imposing export controls on the products, which are crucial components for electronics, automobiles and other industries.
Trump said his administration was “very far advanced on the China deal” and that the meeting on Monday was about “clarification.”
The U.S. side will be represented in London by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, while the Chinese delegation will be led by Vice Premier He Lifeng. Bessent, Greer and He were all in Geneva last month.
Stocks in Asia were up on Monday ahead of the talks.
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