Senior US, China diplomats hold phone call to discuss ‘issues of mutual interest'
Two senior diplomats from the United States and China held a phone call on Thursday to discuss 'issues of mutual interest', according to official statements.
The call between US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and China's Executive Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu came during a thaw in Washington's bruising trade war with Beijing.
The two officials 'discussed a wide range of issues of mutual interest, and agreed on the importance of keeping open lines of communication', US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement on Thursday.
'They acknowledged the importance of the bilateral relationship to the people of both countries and the world,' Bruce said.
In a statement published Friday morning in China, Beijing's foreign ministry said Ma and Landau had 'exchanged views on China-US relations and important issues of common concern'.
'The two sides agreed to continue to maintain communication,' the statement said.
Neither statement gave further details of the discussion.
After US President Donald Trump took office in January, Washington slapped sweeping tariffs on goods imported from China as part of a trade blitz that rattled global markets and supply chains.
Beijing hit back with retaliatory duties and has consistently derided the US measures as unfair, discriminatory and designed to contain China's rise.
The two sides slashed tariffs on each other's goods for 90 days earlier this month, marking a temporary de-escalation in the trade war.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
39 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
China and Japan must overcome mutual hostility while also handling Trump's tariffs: envoy
China and Japan must work hard to improve public opinion towards each other, Japan's top envoy in Beijing said, as the Asian neighbours move to stabilise ties amid shared concerns about tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump 'The most difficult aspect of current Japan-China relations is the sentiment between the two peoples and, very unfortunately, there are still some negative perceptions that linger in Japan regarding China, and vice versa in the Chinese society regarding Japan,' said Kenji Kanasugi , who has been Japan's ambassador to China since late 2023. 'This situation cannot be easily remedied overnight, yet what is imperative is to make steady progress, addressing concrete challenges one by one, and proactively promoting practical cooperation,' he told students and academics at Renmin University in Beijing on Tuesday. 01:49 Hegseth reaffirms US-Japan alliance against 'aggressive Communist Chinese' Hegseth reaffirms US-Japan alliance against 'aggressive Communist Chinese' Although international tourism reportedly recovered to pre-pandemic levels last year, Kanasugi noted that travel between the two countries appeared to lag, even as China resumed visa-free entry to Japanese citizens in November. 'Unfortunately, there are still some Japanese who feel anxious about visiting China due to differing reasons. We continue to raise this issue with the Chinese government on various occasions,' he said. With ties already complicated by wartime history and territorial disputes in the East China Sea, relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been further strained, including over China's import ban of Japanese seafood since 2023 after Japan released treated waste water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean. Political friction has deepened as Tokyo aligned more closely with Washington's efforts to contain China in recent years. Reports of Japanese academics and businessmen being detained in China and attacks on Japanese citizens have further soured public sentiment on both sides.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China, US top negotiators agree to ‘framework' that will need approvals by Xi and Trump
China and the United States wrapped up two days of high-level trade talks in London with an agreement 'in principle to a framework' that each side will bring home for review by their top leaders. Advertisement 'The two sides agreed in principle a framework for implementing the consensus' that Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump reached in their phone call last week, and the consensus of high-level bilateral negotiations in Geneva last month, China's top trade negotiator Li Chenggang told reporters. 'The two sides will bring back a report to our respective leaders the talks in the meeting as well as the framework that was reached in Geneva. We hope that the progress that we made in this London meeting will be conducive to the increasing trust between China and the United States.' Using similar language – 'agreed in principle a framework' – US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said his delegation was 'going to go back and speak to President Trump and make sure he approves it'. 'They're going to go back and speak to President Xi and make sure he approves it, and if that is approved, we will then implement the framework that we have worked hard over these last two days,' he said. '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.' Advertisement 'The idea behind all of this is for us to increase our trade with China, right? ... The fundamental goal is to reduce the trade deficit and increase trade,' Lutnick added. 'So this was the first step of the framework by which we will then approach and discuss growing trade.'
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China, US top negotiators agree on ‘framework' that will need approval from Xi and Trump
Read more here: China and the United States wrapped up two days of high-level trade talks in London on June 11, 2025, with an agreement 'in principle to a framework' that each side will bring home for review by their top leaders. The talks are the latest bid to defuse tensions over an array of trade and technology issues, which remain at a boiling point despite temporary deals to scale back tariffs on each other's goods. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the conclusion of the meeting the 'first step of the framework by which … to discuss growing trade'. China's top trade negotiator Li Chenggang, meanwhile, said Beijing hopes the progress made in London will help boost trust between the two sides.
