US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced a ‘handshake’ deal to put into effect the terms of the May 12 US-China agreement that called for both nations to lower their tariffs and take additional steps to facilitate trade.
No text of either the London framework or the earlier Geneva accord to deescalate the US-China trade war was released by either side, but Lutnick said both nations would remove new trade barriers they had erected as the truce broke down, global newswires reported.
The negotiators plan to return to brief their respective presidents. The deal will be put into immediate effect once it receives Presidential approval on both sides.
China is expected to allow an increased flow of rare earth minerals for auto and defence production and that would lead Washington lifting measures that it imposed recently ‘in a balanced way’, Lutnick said.
“We do absolutely expect that the topic of rare earth minerals and magnets, with respect to the United States of America, will be resolved in this framework implementation,” Lutnick was quoted as saying. He, however, did not specify which US measures would be lifted in response.
The US delegation also included Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US trade representative Jamieson Greer. The Chinese team was led by Vice Premier He Lifeng.
The London talks were “professional, rational, in-depth and candid,” Chinese state media quoted Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang as saying.
ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)
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