The Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Besent, and two other officials of the Trump administration will meet with their Chinese counterparts in London on Monday for the renewed commercial conversations, said President Donald Trump.
Besent, who has led the administration’s efforts to prepare an agreement with Beijing, will join the Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and the United States commercial representative Jamieson Greer, Trump said.
“The meeting should do very well,” the president wrote in Truth Social on Friday afternoon. “Thank you for your attention on this matter!”
Chinese vice president He Lifeng will celebrate the first round of commercial and economic conversations with the US. During a trip to the United Kingdom from Sunday to Friday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday. He represented Beijing during bilateral conversations in Switzerland last month and is the main negotiator for the United China-United States trade.
CNBC has contacted the Chinese embassy in Washington for more information about Trump’s announcement. An embassy spokesman did not respond immediately to a comment request.
Trump had revealed for the first time that more commercial conversations were planned after making a long phone call with Chinese president Xi Jinping Thursday.
The programming announcement occurs when the United States and China have been reduced on numerous issues in the midst of a weakening commercial war that threatens both economic super powers.
The countries, whose total trade of goods exceeded $ 582 billion last year, temporarily reduced most tariffs on the goods of others after the innovative bilateral commercial conversations in Geneva, Switzerland, last month.
But since then, China has repeatedly accused the United States of undermining that progress.
Beijing protested after the United States Department of Commerce warned the chip industry not to use Chinese semiconductors. China also opposed the recent announcement of the Trump administration that it will revoke the visas of some Chinese students studying in the United States.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration accused Beijing of walking slowly a promise made in Geneva to approve the export of additional critical minerals, known as rare earths, to the United States.
Trump wrote after Thursday’s call with XI: “There should no longer be any questions about the complexity of rare earth products.” He did not explain what that meant.
The China Ministry of Commerce emphasized on Saturday that its restrictions in rare earths are in line with international practice, while indicating that it would increase the approval of export licenses applications.
– Evelyn Cheng from CNBC contributed to this report.
