US, China agree on ‘framework’ on trade after talks in London

The United States and China have agreed on a “framework” on trade after two days of talks in London aimed at deescalating tensions between the sides.

While the specifics of the framework announced on Tuesday were unclear, the apparent breakthrough comes a month after Washington and Beijing announced a 90-day pause on most of their tariffs following talks in Geneva.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the sides would work to implement the “Geneva consensus” and had “pounded through” all the issues dividing the world’s two largest economies.

Lutnick said the sides would move forward with the framework pending its approval by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who held a 90-minute phone call on trade last week.

“Once the presidents approve it, we will then seek to implement it,” Lutnick told reporters outside Lancaster House.

Lutnick indicated that US measures imposed in response to a slowdown in Chinese exports of rare earths, a key issue dividing the sides, would likely be eased once supplies of the critical minerals ticked up.

Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang called the talks “professional, rational, in-depth and candid”.

“The two sides will bring back and report to our respective leaders the talks in the meeting as well as the framework that was reached in principle,” Li told reporters.

“We hope that the progress we made in this London meeting is conducive to increasing trust between China and the United States.”

Asian stock markets rose on hopes of a de-escalation in the trade tensions, which have cast a shadow over the global economy.

The World Bank on Tuesday lowered its forecast for global growth from 2.7 percent to 2.3 percent, pointing to the ongoing uncertainty around trade.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up almost 0.5 percent as of 03:30 GMT, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong and CSI 300 in mainland China were about 1 percent and 0.8 higher, respectively.

“I would say that meeting a 90-day deadline for complex discussions was always going to be challenging,” Deborah Elms, the head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation in Singapore, told Al Jazeera.