US and China reach a ceasefire in their trade war after talks in London

The US and China's trading relationship – the most important one in the global economy – is back on track. Will the truce last?

US and China Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping
(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker/Wagner Meier/Getty Images)

After two days of marathon talks in London, the US and China have agreed to “roll back” some of the “punitive measures” they had taken and restore the trade truce agreed in May, says Alan Rappeport in The New York Times. The meetings followed a reportedly friendly call between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping last week. Negotiators, led by US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng, are expected to seek final approval for the “framework agreement” from both leaders; assuming they approve, it will take immediate effect.

Although the two countries reached a 90-day tariff truce in Geneva on 12 May, “deep and fundamental differences remain” – including disputes over “currency manipulation, export subsidies and other non-tariff barriers”, says Linggong Kong in The Conversation. The Geneva deal came under pressure after Washington accused Beijing of “dragging its feet” on an agreement to speed up the export of rare-earths, while Beijing accused the US of being the first to break the agreement by rolling out a wave of fresh measures, including new restrictions on the sale of AI chips and chip-design software to Chinese companies, and cancelling visas for Chinese students. The day after the agreement, Trump also issued an order banning US firms from using Huawei AI chips.

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Emily Hohler
Politics editor

Emily has worked as a journalist for more than thirty years and was formerly Assistant Editor of MoneyWeek, which she helped launch in 2000. Prior to this, she was Deputy Features Editor of The Times and a Commissioning Editor for The Independent on Sunday and The Daily Telegraph. She has written for most of the national newspapers including The Times, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, The Evening Standard and The Daily Mail, She interviewed celebrities weekly for The Sunday Telegraph and wrote a regular column for The Evening Standard. As Political Editor of MoneyWeek, Emily has covered subjects from Brexit to the Gaza war.

Aside from her writing, Emily trained as Nutritional Therapist following her son's diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes in 2011 and now works as a practitioner for Nature Doc, offering one-to-one consultations and running workshops in Oxfordshire.