Trade talks with China ‘going really well', says US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that trade talks with China "are going really well" and hoped to wrap up the discussions by Tuesday night, but said that officials would be present in London on Wednesday if need be.
American and Chinese officials are in the United Kingdom for the trade talks against the backdrop of the tariff war triggered US President Donald Trump's sweeping global levies.
"I think the talks are going really, really well. We're very much spending time and effort and energy - everybody's got their head down working closely," Lutnick told reporters at Lancaster House in London.
"I hope they end this evening, but if they need be, we'll be here tomorrow, but I hope they end this evening," he added.
A Treasury official said that the teams, led by the US's Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, were still talking on Tuesday evening to finalise on technical details. The session could stretch into the night, the official also stated.
Meanwhile, Lutnick's remarks about trade talks with China going well led to the US dollar gaining on Tuesday.
Officials from the world's two largest economies were meeting in London to try to defuse a dispute that has gone from tariffs to restrictions over rare earths.
Earlier on Monday, President Trump had also told reporters at the White House that "we are doing well with China. China's not easy". He added that he was "only getting good reports" from that day's talks.
The US and China have been engaged in a trade war ever since Donald Trump announced sweeping global tariffs on multiple countries.
As Washington slapped Beijing with 145 per cent tariffs on its goods, the latter was prompted to hit back with 125 per cent levies on American goods.
On May 12, the two countries arrived at a 90-day deal to roll back some of the tit-for-tat tariffs they imposed on each other.
However, the temporary halt did not address the wider issues that have strained the US-China ties. None of the issues starting from the illegal trade of fentanyl to the status of democratically-governed Taiwan to US's complaints about Beijing's dominant economic model were addressed.
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