After two days of negotiations in London, US and China governments officials announced on Tuesday that they agreed on the “structure” of an agreement to relieve commercial tensions between the two countries.
Negotiations occurred after a telephone last Thursday (5) between US President Donald Trump and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, a dialogue that the US representative classified as “very productive.”
Previously, representatives from both countries had negotiated for two days in Geneva last month.
“We have come to a structure to implement Geneva consensus,” US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick told London journalists, according to BBC reports. “As soon as the presidents approve it, we will seek to implement it,” he added.
“Both sides, in principle, came to a structure to implement the consensus achieved by the two heads of state during the June 5 telephone conversation and the consensus achieved at the Geneva meeting,” said China’s commercial negotiator, Li Chenggang.
In his first term (2017-2021), Trump began a tariff war with China, which was maintained by his successor, Joe Biden (2021-2025), and intensified when the Republican returned to the White House in January this year.
After the Trump government imposed extra tariffs on imports from China, Beijing retaliated, which led to a rate of rates. The United States raised the tariffs on China’s purchases to 145%, while the Chinese applied 125% to American products.
In May, after the meeting in Geneva, the world’s two largest economies reported that they reached an agreement where US imports from China were reduced to 30% for 90 days, while Beijing lowered their rates on US products to 10%.
However, since then, the United States has accused China of violating their commitment because they retain semiconductor exports and rare land, strategic minerals to the technology and automotive industries, among others.
On Tuesday, Lutnick stated that the London traded agreement should result in the resolution of this issue.