US, China hold trade talks in London

High-level delegations from the United States and China are meeting in London on Monday to try and shore up a fragile truce in a trade dispute that has roiled the global economy.

A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng was due to hold talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at a U.K. government building.

The talks, which are expected to last at least a day, follow negotiations in Geneva last month that brought a temporary respite in the trade war.

The two countries announced May 12 they had agreed to a 90-day suspension of most of the 100%-plus tariffs they had imposed on each other in an escalating trade war that had sparked fears of recession. The U.S. and China are the world's biggest and second-biggest economies.

Chinese trade data shows that exports to the United States fell 35% in May from a year earlier.

Since the Geneva talks, the U.S. and China have exchanged angry words over advanced semiconductors that power artificial intelligence, “ rare earths ” that are vital to carmakers and other industries, and visas for Chinese students at American universities.

President Donald Trump spoke at length with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping by phone last Thursday in an attempt to put relations back on track.

Trump announced on social media the following day that the trade talks would resume in London. The U.K. government says it is providing the venue and logistics but is not involved in the talks, though British Treasury chief Rachel Reeves met with both Bessent and He on Sunday.

“We are a nation that champions free trade and have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody’s interests, so we welcome these talks,” the British government said in a statement.