
Key US-China trade talks set for Monday in London
LONDON: Top US and Chinese officials will sit down in London on Monday for talks aimed at defusing the high-stakes trade dispute between the two superpowers that has widened in recent weeks beyond tit-for-tat tariffs to export controls over goods and components critical to global supply chains.
At a still-undisclosed venue in London, the two sides will try to get back on track with a preliminary agreement struck last month in Geneva that had briefly lowered the temperature between Washington and Beijing and fostered relief among investors battered for months by US President Donald Trump's cascade of tariff orders since his return to the White House in January.
"The next round of trade talks between the US and China will be held in the UK on Monday," a UK government spokesperson said on Sunday.
"We are a nation that champions free trade and have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody's interests, so we welcome these talks."
Gathering there will be a US delegation led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and a Chinese contingent helmed by Vice Premier He Lifeng.
The second-round of meetings comes four days after Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke by phone, their first direct interaction since Trump's Jan 20 inauguration.
During the more than one-hour-long call, Xi told Trump to back down from trade measures that roiled the global economy and warned him against threatening steps on Taiwan, according to a Chinese government summary.
But Trump said on social media the talks focused primarily on trade led to "a very positive conclusion," setting the stage for Monday's meeting in London.
The next day, Trump said Xi had agreed to resume shipments to the US of rare earths minerals and magnets.
China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.
That had become a particular pain point for the US in the weeks after the two sides had struck a preliminary rapprochement in talks held in Switzerland.
There, both had agreed to reduce steep import taxes on each other's goods that had had the effect of erecting a trade embargo between the world's No. 1 and 2 economies, but US officials in recent weeks accused China of slow-walking on its commitments, particularly around rare earths shipments.
"We want China and the United States to continue moving forward with the agreement that was struck in Geneva," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the Fox News programme "Sunday Morning Futures" on Sunday.
"The administration has been monitoring China's compliance with the deal, and we hope that this will move forward to have more comprehensive trade talks."
The inclusion at the London talks of Lutnick, whose agency oversees export controls for the US, is one indication of how central the issue has become for both sides. Lutnick did not attend the Geneva talks, at which the countries struck a 90-day deal to roll back some of the triple-digit tariffs they had placed on each other since Trump's inauguration.
That preliminary deal sparked a global relief rally in stock markets, and US indexes that had been in or near bear market levels have recouped the lion's share of their losses.
The S&P 500 Index, which at its lowest point in early April was down nearly eighteen per cent after Trump unveiled his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs on goods from across the globe, is now only about two per cent below its record high from mid-February.
The final third of that rally followed the US-China truce struck in Geneva.
Still, that temporary deal did not address broader concerns that strain the bilateral relationship, from the illicit fentanyl trade to the status of democratically governed Taiwan and US complaints about China's state-dominated, export-driven economic model.
While the UK government will provide a venue for Monday's discussions, it will not be party to them but will have separate talks later in the week with the Chinese delegation.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Borneo Post
39 minutes ago
- Borneo Post
Unrest in Los Angeles over immigration raids as troops sent by Trump fan out
A graffiti reads 'Return the Homies' behind Los Angeles police officers deployed next to City Hall as clashes with protesters continue into the night during a protest following federal immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California on June 8, 2025. – AFP photo LOS ANGELES (June 9): Police ordered the public to disperse from downtown Los Angeles after further unrest, with cars torched and security forces firing tear gas at protesters, in the wake of Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to America's second-biggest city. Protests in Los Angeles, home to a large Latino population, broke out on Friday, triggered by immigration raids that resulted in dozens of arrests of what authorities say are illegal migrants and gang members. Critics say the US president — who has made clamping down on illegal migration a key pillar of his second term — was deliberately stoking tensions with his deployment of California's National Guard, a stand-by military usually controlled by the state governor. Demonstrators told AFP the purpose of the troops did not appear to be to keep order, with one calling it an 'intimidation tactic.' 'You have the National Guard with loaded magazines and large guns standing around trying to intimidate Americans from exercising our First Amendment rights,' protester Thomas Henning said. California Governor Gavin Newsom called Trump's order a 'serious breach of state sovereignty' and demanded the president to rescind the order and 'return control to California.' He also urged protesters to stay peaceful, warning that those who instigate violence will be arrested. 'Don't take Trump's bait,' he said on social media platform X. Authorities declared downtown Los Angeles a place of 'unlawful assembly' by late Sunday evening. Local media showed a heavy police presence blanketing mostly deserted streets in various areas. A few protesters remained scattered, with some lobbing projectiles and fireworks according to local aerial TV coverage. Trump called the protesters 'insurrectionists,' and demanded authorities 'ARREST THE PEOPLE IN FACE MASKS, NOW!' 'BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!!' he wrote on his Truth Social platform. At least three self-driving Waymo cars were torched as demonstrators thronged around downtown Los Angeles earlier on Sunday, and local law enforcement deployed tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse protesters. An Australian reporter was hit in the leg with a rubber bullet fired by a police officer while on live television. Her employer 9News said she was unharmed. Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers established containment lines some distance from federal buildings by Sunday afternoon, preventing contact between angry demonstrators and the scores of armed National Guardsmen from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team who had gathered in helmets and camouflage gear. Law enforcement had arrested at least 56 people over two days and three officers had suffered minor injuries, the LAPD said. Police in San Francisco said on Sunday about 60 people had been arrested in similar protests in the northern Californian city. – 'Troops everywhere' – Trump was unrepentant when asked about the use of troops, hinting instead at a more widespread deployment in other parts of the country. 'I think you're going to see some very strong law and order,' he told reporters. Responding to a question about invoking the Insurrection Act — which would allow the military to be used as a domestic police force — Trump said: 'We're looking at troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country.' US Northern Command, part of the Department of Defense responsible for national defense, said 'approximately 500 Marines… are in a prepared-to-deploy status should they be necessary to augment and support' the ongoing federal operations. The National Guard is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities. Trump's deployment of the force — the first over the head of a state governor since 1965 at the height of the civil rights movement — was criticized by Democrats, including Kamala Harris. The former vice president called it 'a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos.' Newsom said Trump was 'putting fuel on this fire.' 'Commandeering a state's National Guard without consulting the Governor of that state is illegal and immoral,' he said on X. 'California will be taking him to court.' – 'Intimidation' – However, Republicans lined up behind Trump to dismiss the pushback. 'I have no concern about that at all,' said House Speaker Mike Johnson, accusing Newsom of 'an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary.' Demonstrator Marshall Goldberg, 78, told AFP that deploying Guardsmen made him feel 'so offended.' 'We hate what they've done with the undocumented workers, but this is moving it to another level of taking away the right to protest and the right to just peaceably assemble.' Raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in other US cities have triggered small protests in recent months, but the Los Angeles unrest is the biggest and most sustained against Trump's immigration policies so far. – AFP immigration Los Angeles mass deportation Protests raids

The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Qualcomm strengthens AI portfolio with US$2.4bil Alphawave deal
FILE PHOTO: A smartphone with a displayed Qualcomm logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm on Monday agreed to acquire British semiconductor company Alphawave for about $2.4 billion as part of efforts to strengthen its artificial intelligence technology. Alphawave shareholders will receive 183 pence per share, a nearly 96% premium to the price immediately before Qualcomm disclosed its interest in the company. The shares jumped 22% in early London trade to just below the offer price. U.S.-based firms have been snapping up British assets, taking advantage of a market that is plagued by comparatively weaker valuations and stunted growth. Alphawave, which designs and licenses semiconductor technology for data centers, networking and storage, had garnered takeover interest from Qualcomm and SoftBank-owned chip tech provider Arm in early April for its 'serdes' technology. The technology underpins the speed at which data is processed by chips - crucial for AI development - and serves as the foundation for Broadcom's and Marvell Technology's multibillion-dollar bespoke chip businesses. Arm walked away after initial discussions with Alphawave, Reuters exclusively reported in April citing sources. Qualcomm also tabled two alternative all-share offers to Alphawave's shareholders, after receiving multiple extensions from the UK's takeover panel to table a firm offer. The British company said it considers the terms of the cash offer to be fair and reasonable and intends to unanimously recommend it to its shareholders. Alphawave also completed the disposal of its stake in WiseWave, its joint venture with Chinese investment firm Wise Road Capital, to existing state shareholders on Monday. - Reuters


New Straits Times
2 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Rednote joins wave of Chinese firms releasing open-source AI models
BEIJING: China's Rednote, one of the country's most popular social media platforms, has released an open-source large language model, joining a wave of Chinese tech firms making their artificial intelligence models freely available. The approach contrasts with many US tech giants like OpenAI and Google, which have kept their most advanced models proprietary, though some American firms including Meta have also released open-source models. Open sourcing allows Chinese companies to demonstrate their technological capabilities, build developer communities and spread influence globally at a time when the US has sought to stymie China's tech progress with export restrictions on advanced semiconductors. Rednote's model, called is available for download on developer platform Hugging Face. A company technical paper describing it was uploaded on Friday. In coding tasks, the model performs comparably to Alibaba's Qwen 2.5 series, though it trails more advanced models such as DeepSeek-V3, the technical paper said. RedNote, also known by its Chinese name Xiaohongshu, is an Instagram-like platform where users share photos, videos, text posts and live streams. The platform gained international attention earlier this year when some US users flocked to the app amid concerns over a potential TikTok ban. The company has invested in large language model development since 2023, not long after OpenAI's release of ChatGPT in late 2022. It has accelerated its AI efforts in recent months, launching Diandian, an AI-powered search application that helps users find content on Xiaohongshu's main platform. Other companies that are pursuing an open-source approach include Alibaba which launched Qwen 3, an upgraded version of its model in April. Earlier this year, startup DeepSeek released its low-cost R1 model as open-source software, shaking up the global AI industry due to its competitive performance despite being developed at a fraction of the cost of Western rivals.