The US and China say they have agreed on a framework to resolve their
trade disputes
[June 11, 2025] By
JILL LAWLESS and KEN MORITSUGU
LONDON (AP) — Senior U.S. and Chinese negotiators have agreed on a
framework to get their trade negotiations back on track after a series
of disputes that threatened to derail them, both sides have said.
The announcement came at the end of two days of talks in the British
capital that wrapped up late Tuesday.
The meetings appeared to focus on finding a way to resolve disputes over
mineral and technology exports that had shaken a fragile truce on trade
reached in Geneva last month. It’s not clear whether any progress was
made on the more fundamental differences over China’s sizeable trade
surplus with the United States.
“First we had to get sort of the negativity out and now we can go
forward,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters after
the meetings.
Asian stock markets rose Wednesday after the agreement was announced.
The talks followed a phone call between President Donald Trump and
Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week to try to calm the waters.
Li Chenggang, a vice minister of commerce and China’s international
trade representative, said the two sides had agreed in principle on a
framework for implementing the consensus reached on the phone call and
at the talks on Geneva, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Further details, including any plans for a potential next round of
talks, were not immediately available.
Li and Wang Wentao, China’s commerce minister, were part of the
delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng. They met with Lutnick,
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer
at Lancaster House, a 200-year-old mansion near Buckingham Palace.
Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator, said the disputes had
frittered away 30 of the 90 days the two sides have to try to resolve
their disputes.
They agreed in Geneva to a 90-day suspension of most of the 100%-plus
tariffs they had imposed on each other in an escalating trade war that
sparked fears of recession. The World Bank, citing a rise in trade
barriers, cut its projections Tuesday for U.S. and global economic
growth this year.
“The U.S. and China lost valuable time in restoring their Geneva
agreements,” said Cutler, now vice president at the Asia Society Policy
Institute. “Now, only sixty days remain to address issues of concern,
including unfair trade practices, excess capacity, transshipment and
fentanyl.”
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A car arrives at Lancaster House, for the talks between the U.S. and
China, in London, Tuesday, June 10, 2025.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
 Since the Geneva talks, the U.S. and
China have exchanged angry words over advanced semiconductors that
power artificial intelligence, visas for Chinese students at
American universities and rare earth minerals that are vital to
carmakers and other industries.
China, the world's biggest producer of rare earths, has signaled it
may speed up the issuing of export licenses for the elements.
Beijing, in turn, wants the U.S. to lift restrictions on Chinese
access to the technology used to make advanced semiconductors.
Lutnick said that resolving the rare earths issue is a fundamental
part of the agreed-upon framework, and that the U.S. will remove
measures it had imposed in response. He did not specify which
measures.
“When they approve the licenses, then you should expect that our
export implementation will come down as well,” he said.
Cutler said it would be unprecedented for the U.S. to negotiate on
its export controls, which she described as an irritant that China
has been raising for nearly 20 years.
“By doing so, the U.S. has opened a door for China to insist on
adding export controls to future negotiating agendas,” she said.
In Washington, a federal appeals court agreed Tuesday to let the
government keep collecting tariffs that Trump has imposed not just
on China but also on other countries worldwide while the
administration appeals a ruling against his signature trade policy.
Trump said earlier that he wants to “open up China,” the world’s
dominant manufacturer, to U.S. products.
“If we don’t open up China, maybe we won’t do anything,” Trump said
at the White House. “But we want to open up China.”
___
Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press writers Josh Boak
and Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this story.
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