The US and China have agreed in principle on a framework to carry out an agreement they reached on resolving their trade disputes last month.
The announcement by US and Chinese officials followed Tuesday’s conclusion of two days of talks in London.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters the framework deal puts “meat on the bones” of an agreement reached last month in Geneva to ease bilateral retaliatory tariffs.
Li Chenggang, a vice minister of commerce and China’s international trade representative, said the two sides had agreed in principle on a framework for implementing the consensus reached between the two leaders and at talks in May in Geneva, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Further details, including plans for a potential next round of talks, were not immediately available.
The US-China delegation in May left Geneva with fundamentally different views of the terms of agreement. (Reuters: EDA/Martial Trezzini )
Mr Lutnick said as he arrived on Tuesday morning that the talks were “going well,” and he expected them to continue all day.
Mr Li also said a trade framework had been reached that would be taken back to US and Chinese leaders.
Asked late Monday how the negotiations were going, President Trump told reporters, “we are doing well with China. China’s not easy”.
The two sides sought to build on negotiations in Geneva last month that agreed to a 90-day suspension of most of the 100 per cent-plus tariffs they had imposed on each other in an escalating trade war that had sparked fears of recession.
Chinese rare earth minerals are highly sought after by tech companies. (Reuters via a third party )
Since the Geneva talks, the US and China have exchanged angry words over advanced semiconductors that power artificial intelligence, visas for Chinese students at American universities and rare earth minerals that are vital to car manufacturers and other industries.
Mr Trump spoke at length with Chinese leader Xi Jinping by phone last week in an attempt to put relations back on track, then announced the trade talks would resume in London.
China, the world’s biggest producer of rare earths, has signalled it may ease export restrictions it placed on the elements in April, alarming automakers around the world who rely on them.
Beijing, in turn, wants the US to lift restrictions on Chinese access to the technology used to make advanced semiconductors.
Mr Trump said that he wants to “open up China”, the world’s dominant manufacturer, to US products.
“If we don’t open up China, maybe we won’t do anything,” he said at the White House. “But we want to open up China.”
AP/Reuters
US and China agree on a framework to resolve their trade disputes
