US, China Agreement to Get Negotiations Going Again

Senior U.S. and Chinese negotiators announced a framework for getting their trade negotiations back on track after a series of disputes arose and threatened to derail the talks. The announcement was made by both sides and came at the end of two days of talks in London that wrapped up late Tuesday.

The meetings appeared to focus on finding a way to resolve disputes over mineral and technology exports that had shaken a fragile truce on trade reached in Geneva last month. The AP says it’s not clear yet if they made any significant progress on the more fundamental differences over China’s sizable trade surplus with the U.S.

“First, we had to get some of the negativity out, and now we can go forward,” said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said after the meetings concluded.

President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping also spoke on the phone to calm the tensions.

Grain markets did not respond in a significant way to the news on Wednesday.