Trade Talks With China Start Today
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LONDON — High-level delegations from the United States and China are meeting in London on June 9 to try to shore up a fragile truce ina trade disputethat has roiled the global economy.
A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng was due to hold talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at a U.K. government building.
The talks, which are expected to last at least a day, follow negotiationsin Geneva last monththat brought a temporary respite in the trade war.
The two countries announced May 12 they had agreed to a 90-day suspension of most of the 100%-plus tariffs they had imposed on each other in an escalating trade war that had sparkedfears of recession.
China overnight published May trade data. Its direct exports to the US are down sharply (top left, black line), but its exports to all kinds of places across Asia are up massively. These are obviously transshipments to the US via 3rd countries. Thailand and Vietnam look bonkers. — Robin Brooks (@robin_j_brooks)
The U.S. and China are the world's biggest and second-biggest economies. Chinesetrade datashows that exports to the United States fell 35% in May from a year earlier.
Since the Geneva talks, the U.S. and China have exchanged angry words over advanced semiconductors that power artificial intelligence, “rare earths” that are vital to carmakers and other industries, andvisas for Chinese studentsat American universities.
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President Donald Trumpspoke at lengthwith Chinese leader Xi Jinping by phone June 5 in an attempt to put relations back on track. Trump announced on social media the following day that the trade talkswould resumein London.
The U.K. government says it is providing the venue and logistics but is not involved in the talks, though British Treasury chief Rachel Reeves met with both Bessent and He on June 8.
“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,” the British government said in a statement.
