U.S.-China Trade Talks To Resume as Officials on Both Sides Seek Face-Saving Off-Ramps

Trade officials from two of the world’s largest economies will meet this week to try to hammer out a tariffs regime amid a stalemate that has left critical exports stuck in dry dock on both sides of the Pacific Ocean and markets worldwide skittish over the prospects of global economic growth.American and Chinese officials will arrive at London on Monday seeking to gain an upper hand in tariff negotiations that began in May after retaliatory tariffs that reached 110 percent and 130 percent on American and Chinese goods, respectively, were paused by both parties in the dispute. American officials are casting the meeting as a formality — a “handshake” that will solidify the scope and size of exports that have been slow-rolled since President Trump’s April “Liberation Day” pledge to balance America’s trade ledger with aggressive levies on critical goods from raw manufacturing materials and pharmaceutical ingredients to high-tech chips and operating software.“I’m very comfortable that this deal is about to be closed. It’s gonna be closed not with a bunch of staffers or bureaucratic language but with a handshake,” the president’s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday. “That’s the way President Trump operates.”Secretary Bessent, Secretary Lutnick, and America’s trade representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, will lead the American side during discussions this week. China’s vice premier, He Lifeng, will head up the Chinese delegation.The imposition of April’s tariffs damaged stock markets and created a rush of hoarding ahead of the added fees, driving down April’s trade balance. Negotiators in May met at Geneva, where they agreed to pause tariffs, expecting the flow of exports to resume at its usual pace. Both sides, however, set up roadblocks that prevented that from happening. China balked at the Department of Commerce’s guidance — in the days following a first round of talks at Geneva — alleging that Chinese-made AI chip technology used stolen American technology and was off-limits to American importers. Beijing also felt the pinch from the department’s license controls on critical exports like jet engines and software needed in its commercial sectors.America, in turn, has been anxious about Chinese limits on highly desirable rare earth minerals used in cars and fighter jets, critical to American technology.“We want the rare earths, the magnets that are crucial for cell phones and everything else to flow just as they did before the beginning of April, and we don’t want any technical details slowing that down, and that’s clear to them,” Mr. Hassett said. “Those exports of critical minerals have been getting released at a rate that is higher than it was, but not as high as we believe we agreed to in Geneva,” he continued.On Saturday, ahead of the talks, Beijing announced that it would grant approvals to export seven rare earth minerals even as it continues to “strengthen the approval of applications that comply with regulations.” Part of the easing in export controls may be due to the rising demand not just by America but by European and other global markets that rely on American-made products using rare earth minerals.Europe is also looking for a tariff deal with America. The European Commission is expected to announce by Tuesday a list of American imports that could become subject to retaliatory tariffs if a deal between the EU and America is not reached.Since April, receipts from tariffs have exploded, even as imports have dropped. The trade deficit dropped to $61 billion from $138 billion the previous month as stockpiling ran rampant ahead of the tariff regime. A deal with China is not just essential for the trade balance but also for domestic federal budget negotiations. The Trump administration is using projections about future tariff revenues to justify a reconciliation bill that forecasters say will increase the deficit by $2.5 trillion over 10 years. After speaking with China’s president, Xi Jinpeng, for two hours on Thursday, Mr. Trump told reporters that trade terms with China are already agreed upon, but “we’re just going to make sure everyone understands what the deal is.” Traveling aboard Air Force One on Friday, he said negotiations are “very far advanced” but “we had to have clarification” on which products would be levied at what rate.

U.S.-China Trade Talks To Resume as Officials on Both Sides Seek Face-Saving Off-Ramps

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