China and the US on Saturday agreed to conduct another round of trade negotiations in the coming week, as the world’s two biggest economies seek to avoid another damaging tit-for-tat tariff battle.
Beijing last week announced sweeping controls on the critical rare earths industry, prompting US President Donald Trump to threaten 100 percent tariffs on imports from China in retaliation.
Trump had also threatened to cancel his expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea later this month on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
Photo: EPA
In the latest indication of efforts to resolve their dispute, Chinese state media reported that Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) and US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent had “candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges” during a Saturday morning call, and that both sides agreed to hold a new round of trade talks “as soon as possible.”
On social media, Bessent described the call as “frank and detailed,” and said they would meet “in-person next week to continue our discussions.”
Bessent previously said China was seeking to harm the rest of the world by tightening restrictions on rare earths, which are critical to everything from smartphones to guided missiles.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also participated in the call, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said.
Hours before the call, Fox News released excerpts of an interview with Trump in which he said he would meet Xi at the APEC summit after all.
Trump told the outlet that the 100 percent tariff on goods from China was not sustainable.
“It’s not sustainable, but that’s what the number is... They forced me to do that,” he said.
The high-level video call came as Washington worked to rally the G7 finance ministers in response to the latest Chinese export controls.
For now, the G7 ministers have agreed to coordinate a short-term response and diversify suppliers, the EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters in Washington.
Speaking after the grouping met this week, Dombrovskis said that the vast majority of rare earth supplies come from China, meaning that diversification could take years.
“We agreed, both bilaterally with the US and at the G7 level, to coordinate our approach,” he said on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank’s fall meetings.
Countries would also exchange information on their contacts with Chinese counterparts as they work out short-term solutions, he added.
German Minister of Finance Lars Klingbeil told journalists he hopes that Trump and Xi’s meeting can help to resolve much of the US-China trade conflict.
“We have made it clear within the G7 that we do not agree with China’s approach,” he added, referring to the group of the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.
IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva also expressed hope on Friday for an agreement between the countries to cool tensions.
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