Trade He Lifeng leads China's delegation in negotiations with the USA
At the new round of negotiations to settle the tariff dispute between the USA and China, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will lead the delegation from the People's Republic. He will be in London from Sunday to Friday at the invitation of the British government.
08.06.2025, 02:21
SDA
He will also lead his country's negotiations with the USA, explained a Foreign Office spokesperson. The Foreign Office did not provide any further details about the Chinese delegation.
US President Donald Trump had already announced on Friday that the second round of negotiations in the current tariff dispute between the world's two largest economies would take place in the British capital on Monday. The US delegation will include the US Secretaries of Finance and Commerce, Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick, as well as Trump's Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. "This meeting should go very well," Trump said on his online network Truth Social.
Issues of dispute beyond tariffs
Other points of contention include US restrictions on the sale of important technology products such as chip design software to China. Washington, in turn, is angry about China's export controls on rare earths.
The Ministry of Commerce in Beijing is again justifying the controls on the grounds that the raw materials are goods for civilian and military purposes, according to an evening press release. In accordance with the law, China issued a certain number of export licenses and is prepared to increase exchanges with the countries concerned.
Phone call went "very well" according to Trump
On Thursday, the US President held the first telephone conversation of his second term in office with China's head of state Xi Jinping. He said afterwards that the conversation, which lasted around an hour and a half, went "very well" and ended "with a very positive outcome for both countries".
Trump had imposed punitive tariffs totaling 145% on China at the beginning of April, and Beijing responded with high counter-tariffs. At talks in Geneva in mid-May, the two countries then agreed to significantly reduce the surcharges for an initial 90 days to allow for negotiations.
