China, U.S. agree 'framework' to resolve trade row

China and the United States agreed in principle on a framework for implementing the consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries during their phone call on June 5, as well as those reached during the talks in Geneva, a senior Chinese official on Tuesday.

Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Li Chenggang, who is also China's international trade representative, made the statement after the first meeting of the China-U.S. economic and trade consultation mechanism held in London.

"Over the last couple of days, the Chinese and U.S. teams have had in-depth exchanges. Our communication has been very professional, rational, in-depth and candid. The two sides agreed in principle [on] the framework for implementing the consensus of the two heads of state in their phone call on June 5 as well as the consensus of the meeting in the Geneva," he said.

Li expressed the hope that the progress made in London will help strengthen trust between both nations and promote steady and healthy development of their economic and trade ties.

"The two sides will bring back and report to our respective leaders [the outcome of] the talks in the meeting as well as the framework that was reached in principle. We hope that the progress we made in this London meeting is conducive to increasing trust between China and the United States, to further promote stable and sound development of China-U.S. trade and economic relations, and to inject positive energy into world economic development," he said.

Following the talks in Geneva last month, the world's two largest economies agreed to temporarily bring down the triple-digit tariffs, but the temporary halt is expected to expire in early August.

A phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump last week paved the way for this round of high-level trade talks.

In London, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer represent the Trump Administration. The Chinese delegation is led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and chief trade negotiator Li Chenggang.

"So I think both sides had extra impetus in order to get things done, because we both have our presidents behind us, pushing us to make sure we take care of our respective sides," said Lutnick.