Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers.
He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said.
Photo: KEYSTONE / EDA / Martial Trezzini via Reuters
US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today, after he spoke by telephone with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in a bid to end a bitter battle over tariffs.
The discussions would mark the second round of such negotiations between the world’s two biggest economies since Trump launched his trade war shortly after returning to the White House in January.
A first meeting, held last month in Geneva, brought a pause to the US-China trade dispute.
However, Trump then accused Beijing of not respecting the terms of the de-escalation agreement.
On Thursday, the Republican president discussed the issues with Xi for the first time since the trade tensions soared, assuring reporters that the conversation had been positive.
Xi for his part told Trump that the two should “correct the course” of bilateral relations, according to remarks quoted by official Chinese media.
Meanwhile, Beijing said it granted approval to some applications for the export of rare earths, a move that could ease tensions before upcoming trade negotiations between the US and China.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce confirmed the approval of the applications without specifying which countries or industries were covered, even as it noted growing demand for the minerals in robotics and electric vehicles.
The ministry would continue to review and approve compliant export applications, it said in a statement on Saturday.
China granted temporary export licenses to rare-earth suppliers of the top three US automakers, Reuters reported on Friday.
The commerce ministry also said earlier on Saturday it would speed up approvals for qualified rare earth exporters to Europe.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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