US and Chinese negotiators agreed to resume their trade negotiations after a series of disputes that threatened to derail them, Chinese state media reported on Wednesday (11).
The announcement came after two days of talks in the British capital, which ended on Tuesday night (10).
The meetings appeared to focus on finding a way to resolve disputes over mineral and technology exports that shook the fragile trade truce signed in Geneva last month. It is unclear whether there was any progress on the more fundamental differences over China’s considerable trade surplus with the United States.
President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week to try to calm tempers.
Li Chenggang, vice minister of Commerce and China’s international trade representative, said the two sides agreed in principle on a way to implement the consensus reached between the two leaders and in the Geneva negotiations, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
More details, including plans for a possible next round of negotiations, were not immediately available.
Li and Wang Wentao, China’s Minister of Commerce, were part of the delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng. They met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at Lancaster House, near Buckingham Palace.
Wendy Cutler, former US trade negotiator, said the disputes wasted 30 of the 90 days the two parties have to try to resolve them.
In Geneva, they agreed to a 90-day suspension of most tariffs exceeding 100% that they had imposed on each other in an escalating trade war that raised fears of recession. The World Bank, citing rising trade barriers, cut its projections for US and global economic growth.
“The US and China wasted valuable time restoring their Geneva agreements,” said Cutler, now vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute. “Now, only sixty days remain to address troubling issues, including unfair trade practices, overcapacity, transshipment, and fentanyl.”
Since the Geneva negotiations, the US and China have traded barbs over advanced semiconductors that power artificial intelligence, visas for Chinese students at US universities, and rare earth minerals vital for automakers and other industries.
China, the world’s largest producer of rare earths, signaled it may ease the export restrictions it imposed on the elements in April. The restrictions alarmed automakers worldwide that rely on them. Beijing, in turn, wants the US to suspend restrictions on Chinese access to technology used to manufacture advanced semiconductors.
Cutler said it would be unprecedented for the US to negotiate its export controls, which she described as an issue China has raised for nearly 20 years.
“By doing so, the US has opened a door for China to insist on adding export controls to future negotiation agendas,” she said.
In Washington, a federal appeals court agreed to let the government continue collecting tariffs that Trump imposed not only on China but also on other countries around the world, while the government appeals a ruling against its trade policy.
Trump previously said he wants to “open China,” the world’s top manufacturer, to American products.
“If we don’t open China, we might do nothing,” Trump said at the White House.
Source: www.npr.org