logo
China and U.S. trade officials to hold talks in London

China and U.S. trade officials to hold talks in London

CNBCa day ago

U.S. President Donald Trump's top trade officials are meeting their Chinese counterparts in London on Monday for talks aimed at resolving an ongoing trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are representing the U.S.
China's foreign ministry said on Saturday that Vice Premier He Lifeng, Beijing's lead trade negotiator, will be in the U.K. between June 8-13, and that a meeting of the "China-U.S. economic and trade consultation mechanism" would take place.
The talks come after Trump last week said that he had held a lengthy phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping as both look to avert a full-blown trade war.
Diplomatic efforts by both sides have ramped up after weeks of heightened trade tension and uncertainty after Trump announced sweeping import tariffs on China and other trading partners in April.
Beijing retaliated, and a tit-for-tat escalation in duties ensued before both sides agreed in Geneva in May to temporarily slash duties and facilitate talks. At the time, the U.S. tariff on Chinese imports was cut from 145% to 30% , while China's levies on U.S. imports were lowered from 125% to 10%.
China and the U.S. have since repeatedly accused each other of violating the Geneva agreement, with Washington saying Beijing was slow to approve the export of additional critical minerals to the U.S., while China criticized the U.S. imposing new restrictions on Chinese student visas and additional export restrictions on chips.
U.S. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Sunday said that the London talks would focus on moving forward with the Geneva agreement, noting the two sides' strategic interests in each other's markets.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump announces $1,000 government-funded accounts for American babies
Trump announces $1,000 government-funded accounts for American babies

Yahoo

time17 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Trump announces $1,000 government-funded accounts for American babies

Donald Trump unveiled a federal program Monday providing $1,000 government-funded investment accounts for American babies, getting backing from top business leaders who said they plan to contribute billions more to an initiative tied to 'the big beautiful bill'. At a White House roundtable with over a dozen CEOs, including from Uber, Goldman Sachs and Dell Technologies, Trump relayed the details of 'Trump accounts' – tax-deferred investment accounts tracking stock market performance for children born between 2025 and 2029. 'For every US citizen born after December 31, 2024, before January 1, 2029, the federal government will make a one-time contribution of $1,000 into a tax-deferred account that will track the overall stock market,' Trump said. The accounts will be controlled by guardians and allow additional private contributions up to $5,000 annually. Trump called it 'a pro-family initiative that will help millions of Americans harness the strength of our economy to lift up the next generation'. Related: Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill is built on falsehoods about low-income families | Brigid Schulte and Haley Swenson CEOs from major companies including Michael Dell, Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, and Vladimir Tenev of Robinhood committed billions for employees' children's accounts. Trump praised the executives as 'really the greatest business minds we have today' who are 'committed to contributing millions of dollars to the Trump account'. Mike Johnson, the House speaker, also at the roundtable, championed the program, saying: 'It's a bold, transformative policy that gives every eligible American child a financial head start from day one. Republicans are proud to be the party we always have been. It supports life and families, prosperity and opportunity.' The program passed the House as part of a massive budget bill but faces stiffer Senate Republican resistance over the broader package. The accounts cannot be implemented as a standalone program and depend entirely on passage of what Trump calls the 'one big, beautiful bill' that is 'among the most important pieces of legislation in our country's history', claiming it's 'fully funded through targeted reforms' including welfare changes and a proposed remittance tax. However, the congressional budget office last week found the bill would also add $2.4tn to the national debt over the next decade while cutting Medicaid and food assistance programs. The CBO analysis showed the bill, which passed the House by a single vote and no Democratic support, would leave 10.9 million more Americans without healthcare by 2034. The treasury-funded accounts, previously called 'Maga accounts' resemble existing 529 college plans but with lower contribution limits – leading some financial advisers to say the Trump accounts may not offer the best investment incentives. The move is also not without precedent: the United Kingdom operated a similar Child Trust Fund with government seed funding from 2002-2011 before discontinuing the program, while Singapore runs the Baby Bonus Scheme that includes government-matched savings accounts for children. Trump was optimistic about returns, saying beneficiaries would 'really be getting a big jump on life, especially if we get a little bit lucky with some of the numbers and the economies into the future'. Johnson warned that failure to pass the legislation would result in 'the largest tax increase in American history' and pushed for swift congressional action on what he called 'pro-growth legislation' that would 'help every single American'. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

First Thing: Donald Trump sends Marines to LA as mayor says city being used as ‘experiment'
First Thing: Donald Trump sends Marines to LA as mayor says city being used as ‘experiment'

Yahoo

time18 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

First Thing: Donald Trump sends Marines to LA as mayor says city being used as ‘experiment'

Good morning. About 700 US marines were en route to Los Angeles on Tuesday after Donald Trump mobilized them the day before in response to protests over immigration raids. The president also doubled the number of national guard members to 4,000, in an extraordinary mobilization of troops against US residents that California leaders have called 'authoritarian'. The Pentagon mobilized the 700 active-duty marines after tensions between the federal government and the nation's second-largest city dramatically escalated over the weekend, with residents taking to the streets to demonstrate against a series of brutal crackdowns on immigrant communities. The raids have affected garment district works, day laborers and restaurants. Federal agents also arrested the president of a major California union who was serving as a community observer during the raids. Despite facing teargas and other munitions over the weekend, protesters continued to rally yesterday, and families of detained immigrants pleaded for their loved ones to be released. How is California responding? The state has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing the US president of 'unlawfully' federalizing the state's national guard to quell a domestic protest. Days before Pete Hegseth fired three top aides last month over a Pentagon leak investigation into the disclosure of classified materials, according to four people familiar with the episode, a recently hired senior adviser said he could help with the inquiry. The adviser, Justin Fulcher, suggested to Hegseth's then chief of staff, and Hegseth's personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, that he knew of warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) that had identified the leakers. Fulcher offered to share the supposed evidence as long as he could help run the investigation, three of the people said. But when he eventually sat down with officials, it became clear he had no evidence of a wiretap, and the Pentagon had been duped. The extraordinary episode adds to the growing portrait of dysfunction inside Hegseth's front office. What happened next? The development was not communicated to the White House – so several Trump advisers who were told of the NSA wiretap claim believed that was part of the 'smoking gun' evidence against the three aides fired by Hegseth, until they developed their own doubts. The Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was leaving Tel Aviv on a flight to France after having been detained earlier with other activists on a Gaza-bound aid boat, Israel said today. 'Greta Thunberg is departing Israel on a flight to France,' Israel's foreign ministry said on its official X account, along with two photos of the activist on board a plane. The group of activists departed Italy on 1 June aboard the Madleen carrying a symbolic amount of food and supplies for Gaza, whose population is at risk of famine. Israeli forces intercepted the boat in international waters yesterday and towed it to the port of Ashdod. What about the other activists? 'The passengers of the 'Selfie Yacht' arrived at Ben Gurion airport to depart from Israel and return to their home countries,' the Israeli foreign ministry said. 'Those who refuse to sign deportation documents and leave Israel will be brought before a judicial authority.' The health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, is getting rid of all 17 members on a key panel of vaccine experts and will replace them, he said yesterday. A former girlfriend of Sean 'Diddy' Combs told jurors in his sex-trafficking and racketeering trial that she repeatedly told the music mogul she didn't want to have sex with other men. Authorities said a Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving at a Detroit airport for the alleged smuggling of biological material, the second such case in two days. Donald Trump unveiled a federal program yesterday providing $1,000 government-funded investment accounts for American babies, getting backing from top business leaders who said they plan to contribute billions more to an initiative tied to 'the big beautiful bill'. Graphic sexual content, bullying, abuse and threats of violence are rife on Meta-owned products. Now Meta is pumping billions of dollars a year into building its metaverse, a virtual world for education, business, shopping and live events. But if Meta has utterly failed to keep women and girls safe in its existing online spaces, why should we trust it with the future? The unexplained deaths of hundreds of elephants near watering holes across the Okavango delta in May 2020 alarmed conservationists. Nearly five years later, scientists finally published a paper indicating what they believe to be the reason behind the deaths: toxic water caused by an algal bloom. Millions of people are prevented from having the number of children they want by a toxic mix of economic barriers and sexism, a new UN report has warned. While right-wing governments, including the US and Hungary, are increasingly blaming falling fertility rates on a rejection of parenthood, the report found most people wanted children. Gen Z are making headlines for their hesitancy to use bar tabs – instead preferring to close out and pay after every single drink, no matter how many rounds they order. But do younger people have a monopoly on poor bar etiquette? Alaina Demopoulos spoke to bartenders across the US about which generation behaves best. First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you're not already signed up, subscribe now. If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@

UK pumps £14 bn into nuclear plant on path to net zero
UK pumps £14 bn into nuclear plant on path to net zero

Yahoo

time21 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

UK pumps £14 bn into nuclear plant on path to net zero

The UK government Tuesday said it will invest billions of pounds in the new Sizewell C nuclear power plant as it strives to meet net zero and energy security targets. The £14.2-billion ($19-billion) investment will end "years of delay and uncertainty", the UK Treasury said in a statement, adding it would unlock a "golden age" of nuclear power to "boost the UK's energy security". The latest injection is part of budget announcements by finance minister Rachel Reeves, who is due to detail her spending priorities on Wednesday, with defence and health at the forefront. The government on Tuesday also announced that British manufacturer Rolls-Royce had won a competition to become the preferred bidder to build small modular nuclear reactors in the UK. SMRs are aimed at cutting the costs and complexity of building nuclear power stations. "The UK is back where it belongs, taking the lead in the technologies of tomorrow," Reeves said. The government added that it would invest more than £2.5 billion in nuclear fusion over five years in what it called a "record investment" for the nascent technology. - Nuclear rollout - The Labour government, which took over from the Conservatives in July, has promised to deliver "the biggest nuclear rollout program for a generation". The UK has refocused on shoring up nuclear power since the start of the war in Ukraine, in the name of energy security and faced with a fleet of ageing power stations. Britain's government is the majority shareholder in the Sizewell C plant being built in eastern England, after Chinese company CGN left the project and the other partner, French energy giant EDF, scaled back its involvement. The UK is searching for another partner to join the project, then will deliver a "final investment decision", Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said Tuesday. The Sizewell C project, which comprises two EPR nuclear reactors each with 1.6 gigawatts capacity, could cost a total £20-30 billion to build. The sum could be even higher, according to some estimates which are disputed by the government and EDF, and it is not expected to start generating electricity until 2035. "Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter for Sizewell C, the UK's first British-owned nuclear power plant in over 30 years," said joint managing directors of the project Julia Pyke and Nigel Cann. The government wants to increase nuclear power's share of the energy mix, as it does not emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Starmer's government has pledged by 2035 to reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions by 81 percent on 1990 levels, under plans to reach net-zero by 2050. The use of nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels is highly controversial, however, with many environmental groups warning about safety risks and the disposal of nuclear waste. The Sizewell C announcement has been met with anger by some local residents worried about the impact of the new plant on the local town of Leiston in Suffolk. Near to Sizewell C is the Sizewell B nuclear power station which is due to close in 2035 -- and Sizewell A which is in the process of being decommissioned. EDF is also building the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in southwestern England, although it has been blighted by delays and rising construction costs. "The government's decision to move ahead with Sizewell C is fantastic news for Britain, its energy security and economic growth," said EDF Energy chief executive Simone Rossi. bur-ajb/bcp/lth

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store