A fresh round of talks to end the US-China trade war is scheduled to begin in London on Monday. It will look to defuse the high-stakes trade conflict between the two countries, which has escalated in recent weeks beyond tariffs to export bans over commodities and components essential to global supply chains.
US President Donald Trump stated on Truth Social, Friday that a high-level US team would meet with Chinese officials. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and a Chinese group lead by Vice Premier He Lifeng will be present for the negotiations.
US and China will attempt to resume their negotiations at an undisclosed location in London.
A UK government spokesperson said on Sunday, “the next round of trade talks between the U.S. and China will be held in the UK on Monday. 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.”
Although the UK government will provide space for the talks between US and China, it will not participate in them and will meet with the Chinese delegation separately later this week.
This meeting comes four days after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had their first direct phone conversation since the former’s inauguration on Jan 20.
According to a Chinese government account, Xi warned Trump against taking threatening actions on Taiwan and urged him to rescind trade policies that shook the world economy during the more than hour-long chat.
However, Trump claimed on Truth Social that the largely trade-focused discussions came to “a very positive conclusion,” paving the way for the meeting in London.
Trump announced on Friday that Xi has consented to start sending rare earth minerals and magnets to the US again. Global supply chains for automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor businesses, and military contractors around the world were completely disrupted in April when China decided to halt exports of a variety of vital minerals and magnets.
The mining and processing of rare earths is one sector in which China dominates. They are essential for a variety of products ranging from robotics to military gear, in addition to automobiles.
The most recent tensions started the day after the Geneva agreement where it was announced to “pause” tariffs for 90 days on May 12. It provided investors with some respite from the months-long barrage of tariffs imposed by Trump since his return to the White House in January.
According to guidance released by the U.S. Commerce Department, using Ascend AI processors from Huawei, a well-known Chinese tech giant, could violate U.S. export regulations. As per the guidance, this is because the chips were probably developed using American technology even though exporting them to China was prohibited.
The Chinese authorities were not happy. The US’ efforts to restrict Chinese companies’ access to technology, particularly the tools and processes required to manufacture the most cutting-edge semiconductors, have been one of its main grievances in recent years.
After the Geneva agreement in May, Beijing cut US import duties to 10% and pledged to remove restrictions on vital mineral exports, while the US reduced its tariffs on Chinese goods to 30%. According to the pact, both parties have 90 days to attempt to achieve a trade agreement.
Despite the truce, China’s May exports were lower than economists had predicted, according to the most recent data provided by Beijing on Monday. Compared to the same period last year, China’s exports grew 4.8% in dollar terms.
Simultaneously, imports fell 3.4%, which was significantly worse than the 0.9% decline that was anticipated.