On June 5, China was in Mandarin with US President Trump at the request. In short, this is the first call between the two heads of state since the US launched this round of tariff war. In this 90-minute call, economic and trade is naturally one of the issues that both sides cannot avoid. After the call, Trump posted on social media that the teams of China and the United States will meet at a pending location soon.
And the second day after the call between China and the United States, that is, on the 6th local time, Trump quickly announced the news that the top leaders of China-US economic and trade will meet soon. On the same day, Trump posted on social media that U.S. Treasury Secretary Becente, U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnik, and U.S. Trade Representative Greer will go to London to hold talks with his Chinese colleagues on June 9. He also specifically emphasized that "this talk should go very smoothly."
At the same time, the Chinese special plane also flew to London. A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry also announced on the 7th that at the invitation of the British government, Chinese senior officials will visit the UK from June 8 to 13. During the visit, the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism will be held with the United States. It is not difficult to see that this meeting is not only a continuation of the Geneva economic and trade talks, but also a reflection of China and the United States' efforts to resolve tariff disputes during the 90-day "truce" period.
As early as mid-May, senior economic and trade leaders of China and the United States held a two-day talks in Geneva, Switzerland. Judging from the joint statement after the meeting, substantial progress has been made. Among them, the US tariffs on China have been reduced from 145% to 30%, while China has reduced its tariffs on the US from 125% to 10%. In addition, the two sides have established mechanisms to continue to negotiate on economic and trade relations. Specifically, negotiations can be held in China, the United States or in a third country.
Now, the talks held in London have three unusual features from the last Geneva talks. First, the location is selected in London. As mentioned above, there are three options for negotiation locations, namely China, the United States and the third country. However, this time the two sides still chose to be in the third country. The difference is that last time it was Geneva, Switzerland, and this time it was London, England. Some analysts believe that Sino-US relations are currently tense, and if the negotiation location is chosen in the other side's territory, it is very likely to be regarded as "expressing weakness." The third country avoids this very well, and also reflects the reciprocal status of both sides.
Secondly, there are differences in time. The Geneva talks lasted from May 10 to 11, a total of two days. However, the time of the foreign visit itinerary announced by China at that time was a visit to Switzerland from May 9 to 12 by Chinese senior officials. After the end of his visit to Switzerland, from the 12th to the 16th, Chinese senior officials visited France and presided over the 10th China-France high-level economic and financial dialogue with France. For this London talks, Chinese senior officials stayed in the UK for 6 days, and it is not ruled out that the talks between the two sides were longer than last time. Another thing to note is that China held talks with US economic and trade officials during its visit to the UK; while the US took time out to London to participate in the new round of Sino-US economic and trade talks.
Finally, the arrangements of participants vary. Compared with the Geneva talks, in this round of negotiations, in addition to US Treasury Secretary Becent and US Trade Representative Greer, US Commerce Secretary Lutnik joined the negotiating table. You should know that Lutnik is regarded as one of the most hawkish politicians in the Trump administration. He supports Trump's tariff policy and is arguably the same type of person as White House trade adviser Navarro. From this perspective, Trump asked Lutnik to join the negotiating team, which is very likely to want to take a tougher attitude towards China at the negotiating table.
