Donald Trump has said the US and China’s deal to restore their trade war truce is “done” after two days of marathon negotiations in London.
In a post on his Truth Social network on Wednesday the US president hailed a breakthrough reached in bilateral talks in London late the night before.
The deal revived a trade truce agreed in Geneva last month that subsequently faltered because of differences over Chinese rare earth exports and US export controls.
“OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI [Jinping] AND ME,” Trump said, adding that the agreement would lead to China supplying rare earths “up front.”
He said that the US would meet its commitments, including “Chinese students using our colleges and universities,” but made no mention of export controls on chips.
A senior White House official indicated earlier in the week that Trump could ease restrictions on selling chips to China if Beijing agreed to speed up the export of rare earths.
That would amount to a significant policy shift from former President Joe Biden’s administration, which implemented what it called a “small yard, high fence” approach to restrict Beijing’s ability to obtain US technology that could be used to help its military.
Li Chenggang, China’s vice-minister of commerce, described the London talks as “rational, in-depth and candid,” and said the sides had agreed to implement the consensus reached in Geneva and in a phone call between Trump and Xi last week, according to state news agency Xinhua.
He expressed hope that the progress made in London “will be conducive to strengthening trust between China and the United States.”
China’s CSI 300 index of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks closed up 0.8 percent on Wednesday. Futures tracking the S&P 500 were up 0.4 percent.
Howard Lutnick told reporters the US negotiating team would take a framework agreed with Chinese delegates over two days of talks in London back to President Donald Trump for his approval.